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Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Categories: News

U.S. employers expect hiring to pick up in the final quarter of 2017, with 21 percent planning to add staff between September and December. According to the latest Employment Outlook Survey, released today by ManpowerGroup, employers in all U.S. regions and industry sectors expect headcount to grow. The upbeat forecast indicates that the uncertain political climate continues to have little effect on employer confidence.

 

Taking seasonal variations into account, the net employment outlook for Q4 2017 is +17 percent. This marks the 13th consecutive quarter with an outlook of +15 percent or stronger. Nationwide hiring prospects are unchanged from last quarter and relatively stable when compared to one year ago.

 

Of the more than 11,500 U.S. employers surveyed, 71 percent expect to maintain their headcounts, just six percent expect workforce reductions and two percent are unsure. Employers across all sectors report favorable hiring intentions, with those in durable goods manufacturing reporting the strongest intentions in the past 10 years.

 

Technological disruption is transforming manufacturing into a high-tech, high-skilled industry, said Michael Stull, senior vice president, Manpower North America. At the same time, demand for ‘Made in America continues to grow and organizations are stepping up their manufacturing efforts here on U.S. soil. From New York to New Mexico, he said, manufacturing companies are looking for increasingly specific skills.

 

That’s why we’re working with companies like Rockwell Automation to build the right-skilled advanced manufacturing workforce to help fuel America’s growth, he said. Other sectors would do well to follow the upskilling trend the skills of the future will look very different from today. We can’t afford to wait and see exactly what these skills might be. We need to build the plane while flying it too.

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Hiring By Sector

Employers in all 13 national industry sectors expect to grow staffing levels during the final quarter of 2017: Leisure & hospitality (+28 percent), professional & business services (+22 percent), wholesale & retail trade (+20 percent), durable goods manufacturing (+18 percent), transportation & utilities (+18 percent), construction (+16 percent), education & health services (+13 percent), financial activities (+13 percent), information (+13 percent), nondurable goods manufacturing (+13 percent), mining (+13 percent), other services (+13 percent), government (+12 percent).

 

When compared with the third quarter of 2017, employers report slightly stronger hiring prospects in four industry sectors nationwide: Construction, leisure & hospitality, other services and professional & business services. For two of these sectors other services and professional & business services hiring intentions are stronger than at any point since they were first analyzed nine years ago.

 

Hiring plans remain relatively stable in the following nationwide industry sectors when compared with Q3 2017: Education & health services, government, information, durable goods manufacturing, nondurable goods manufacturing and wholesale & retail trade.

 

The net employment outlook for the durable goods manufacturing sector in the coming quarter is the strongest reported in 10 years. Nationally, employers report moderately weaker hiring intentions in the mining sector when compared with the previous quarter. In two nationwide industry sectors financial activities and transportation & utilities hiring prospects are slightly weaker.

 

Hiring By Region

Employers in all four regions in the U.S. have a positive outlook for their Q4 2017 hiring plans. When compared with the previous quarter, hiring intentions increase by four percentage points in the Northeast and are relatively stable in three regions. Compared with this time one year ago, hiring prospects are slightly stronger in the Northeast and remain relatively stable in the other three regions, with employers in the South and Midwest reporting no change year-over-year and employers in the West reporting a decrease of one percentage point.

 

For the coming quarter, employers in Delaware, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah report the strongest net employment outlooks. Of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas, the strongest job prospects are expected in Cape Coral, FL.; Oxnard, CA; Charlotte, NC; Stockton, CA; Deltona, FL; Grand Rapids, MI; Madison, WI and McAllen, TX.

 

Original Article: http://huntscanlon.com/u-s-hiring-trends-remain-steady-heading-year-end/