THE WORKPLACE : Employers Got Ready for Hiring Spree Despite Measure A, Survey Shows

Apparently employers in Orange County were not too worried about the potential economic impact of Measure A, the ill-fated growth-control initiative.

While friends and foes of the initiative were battling it out in the election campaign, and pollsters were telling us that the initiative was likely to pass, a large number of local businesses were getting ready to go on a hiring spree, according to a survey by Manpower, the nationwide temporary employment agency.

Results of the quarterly survey released Monday--the day before Measure A was defeated at the polls--showed that 31% of the Orange County respondents planned to increase hiring this summer. In the first-quarter survey, released in March, only 22% had predicted that hiring would increase.

Business sectors anticipating stepped up summer hiring in the county, according to Manpower, include construction, public utilities and government, the wholesale and retail trades, the service sector and durable goods (which, in Orange County, means computers and other electronic equipment).