Hiring Plans to Slow a Bit, Survey Shows

Orange County employers are gearing up for a productive but not spectacular summer season and are adjusting their hiring goals accordingly, according to a new survey by Manpower Inc.

An estimated 22% of the county’s employers expect to add to their payrolls during the summer months, with 7% anticipating layoffs or payroll reductions through attrition, the employment firm found.

A year ago, 25% said they intended to add staff while 8% predicted cutbacks.

Manpower, which specializes in placing temporary hourly workers, surveys about 1,500 employers nationally each quarter to gauge national and regional hiring outlooks. The most recent survey covers hiring for July, August and September.

The survey also deals with hourly employment, generally in clerical, office, and assembly or manufacturing positions.

Sue Foigelman, area manager for Manpower’s Irvine-based Orange County operations, said Monday that the results of the local portion of the survey show a slight slowing of job growth as county employers echo the national trend of cautious concern about the economy.

Still, she said, the survey results don’t point to a downturn. The number of firms hiring or maintaining the status quo far outweighs the number expecting to cut back.

Manpower does not break down local hiring trends by job category, as it does nationally, but Foigelman said the local results show that manufacturing, education, services and public administration are areas with the strongest potential for job hunters.

She said job opportunities in construction are expected to slow a bit, largely because builders have slowed new development activity in the wake of a sales slowdown.

Foigelman said that while the requests for temporary workers that her office handles don’t always mirror the demand for permanent employees, she has noticed a sharp increase in recent months in demand for clerical workers with computer skills, especially those familiar with major word-processing software programs.

“There is also a great demand for (temporary) receptionists,” she said.

That, she said, means there is a marked shortage of receptionists and word-processing specialists in the permanent job market.

“I have also noticed that in the past six months, there is almost no demand for anyone without some level of computer knowledge,” Foigelman added. “Almost every job request we get requires some computer knowledge, even in manufacturing, warehousing and assembly-type jobs.” O.C. JOB MARKET

Here are the results of a survey of Orange County executives regarding their hiring plans for the upcoming quarter.

3rd quarter 1989: Hire more workers: 25%. Reduce Staffing: 8%.

3rd quarter 1990: Hire more workers: 22%. Reduce Staffing: 7%.