Local job market appears good

Los Angeles area employers expect to hire at a respectable pace in third quarter 2007, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

From July to September, 28 percent of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 9 percent expect to reduce their payrolls, according to Manpower spokesperson Lee Fossey. Another 47 percent expect to maintain their current staff levels and 16 percent are not certain of their hiring plans.

"Los Angeles area employers have much stronger hiring intentions than in the second quarter when 13 percent of the companies interviewed intended to hire additional employees and 25 percent planned to reduce staff levels," said Fossey.

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in nondurable goods manufacturing, wholesale/retail trade and public administration. Employers in construction, durable goods manufacturing, finance/insurance/real estate, education and services voice mixed hiring intentions, while hiring in transportation/public utilities is expected to remain unchanged.

In the United States, the third quarter hiring pace is expected to remain unchanged from the April-June period, according to the seasonally adjusted survey results. This stability comes after three consecutive quarters of slight declines in employer confidence levels.

Among the 14,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 29 percent forsee an increase in hiring activity, and 7 percent expect a decline in staff levels during third quarters. Fiftyeight percent anticipate no change in the hiring pace while 6 percent are undecided about their JulySeptember hiring plans.