Hiring outlook for first quarter best in 6 years
The job market outlook in Colorado Springs for the first quarter is the best in six years and a big improvement from a year earlier, with fewer employers reducing staff, according to a quarterly survey from temporary staffing giant Manpower Inc.
The percentage of local employers planning to add staff exceeded those expecting cuts by 7 points, with 13 percent projecting hiring and 6 percent anticipating reduce staff in the January-to-March quarter. That’s somewhat better than the current quarter, when 13 percent planned to expand and 10 percent anticipated cutbacks, and much more optimistic than local employers were a year ago. At that time, 11 percent of local employers surveyed expected to hire additional staff, while 14 percent said they anticipated reductions.
In the latest survey, Colorado Springs is tied with Denver and 10 other cities for the 40th-best outlook among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. The Springs was tied with five other cities for the 27th-worst outlook among the 100 cities in the survey for the current quarter.
“This is good news,” said Fred Crowley, senior economist for the Southern Colorado Economic Forum. “The survey seeks to reflect the general perspective among American businesspeople that the European debt problems won’t affect our economy, or will just go away, neither of which is likely.”
Manpower officials have declined to disclose how many employers the company surveys in the Springs or statewide.
Local job prospects are best in the construction, manufacturing, retailing, health care and tourism industries, the survey said. Layoffs are more likely in the information technology, professional and business services and government sectors. Little change in job outlook is expected in the transportation, utilities and financial services industries.
The Springs-area outlook for the upcoming quarter is slightly less optimistic than the rest of the state, where 16 percent of employers surveyed plan to add staff and 8 percent expect reductions. That is a significantly more optimistic outlook than three months ago. Employers in the Denver area have a similar outlook to those in Colorado Springs with 16 percent anticipating hiring and 9 percent projecting cuts, which is a somewhat less optimistic outlook than the outlook for the current quarter.
Nationwide, 14 percent of the 18,000 employers surveyed expect to hire additional staff, while 9 percent expect a decline in their payrolls. When those results are adjusted for seasonal changes, the percentage hiring exceeds those making cuts by 9 percent, up from a 7 percentage-point difference in the previous quarter. The outlook for the upcoming quarter is the ninth in which more employers expected to add staff than reduce payroll, though the percentage of employers uncertain about their hiring plans is the highest since 2005.
“Slow, but steady momentum has improved employer confidence, which is likely why more employers are planning to hire in the first quarter,” said Jonas Prising, president of Manpower’s operations in the Americas. “This uptick is encouraging, but the historically high proportion of employers that are unsure of their hiring plans indicates continued uncertainty about the future and ongoing caution when it comes to staffing plans.”
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