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Jeanne Farmer
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Ken Lazar
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Unstable Job Market Expected for Columbus, OH MSA

December 8, 2009 – Columbus area employers expect to hire at a cautious pace during the first quarter of 2010, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

From January to March, 10% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 19% expect to reduce their payrolls, according to Manpower spokesperson Jeanne Farmer. Another 66% expect to maintain their current staff levels and 5% are not certain of their hiring plans.

“Compared with the previous quarter when 8% of companies interviewed intended to add employees, and 9% planned to reduce staff levels, area hiring levels appear to be weaker,” said Jeanne Farmer. “Employers are much less optimistic about hiring activity as compared to one year ago, when 16% of companies surveyed planned to increase staff levels and 10% expected to cut payrolls.”

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in Financial Activities and Leisure & Hospitality. Employers in Construction, Durable Goods Manufacturing, Transportation & Utilities, Wholesale & Retail Trade, Information, Professional & Business Services, Education & Health Services and Other Services plan to reduce staffing levels, while hiring in Nondurable Goods Manufacturing and Government is expected to remain unchanged.

Of the more than 28,000 employers surveyed in the U.S., 12% expect to increase their staff levels during the January - March period, while 12% expect to reduce their payrolls. Seventy-three percent expect no change in hiring, and 3% are undecided about their Quarter 1 2010 hiring plans.

The next Manpower Employment Outlook Survey will be released on March 9, 2010 to report hiring expectations for Quarter 2 2010.

About the Survey
Employment services company Manpower Inc. releases the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. It is the only forward-looking survey of its kind, unparalleled in size, scope, longevity and area of focus. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey’s United States results are based on interviews with more than 28,000 employers located within the top 200 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in the U.S. and one MSA in Puerto Rico. The mix of industries within the survey follows the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Supersectors and is structured to be representative of the U.S. economy. The complete results of the national Manpower Employment Outlook Survey can be found in the Press Room of our Web site at us.manpower.com/meos. There you will also find the survey results from the 201 Metropolitan Statistical Areas that are surveyed. Questions can be directed to meos@na.manpower.com.

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	Columbus, OH MSA (49 KB)