WORKPLACE : Summer Hiring Boom Seen by U.S. Survey--but Not in the County

Companies will be doing a lot of hiring this summer, but not in Orange County, where the outlook is for “minimal” new jobs.

So says Manpower Inc., a national chain that supplies temporary workers to businesses.

Manpower surveyed 15,000 U.S. businesses recently and found that a quarter of them will add workers in July, August and September. The survey also said 8% will lay off workers.

That’s not too far different from last year at this time--in the depths of the recession--when 22% of the companies surveyed planned to hire and 10% planned to lay off.

In Orange County, however, the outlook is considerably gloomier: Just 8% of the businesses surveyed plan to hire this summer, while 7% plan to lay off. A year ago, 17% of the local companies surveyed said they planned to hire, with 17% planning layoffs.

The situation seemed a bit better a few months ago, when 13% of local companies surveyed planned to hire during the second quarter, while just 5% planned reductions.

Employers are usually upbeat during summer months, Manpower says, but the county’s large building industry has been hit hard by the recession and the industry’s inability to borrow, while the important local defense industries were hit by a downturn in federal spending.

In fact, state figures have already shown that far more jobs were lost during the recession than had previously been thought. And local economists say a recovery for the county’s economy is still at least months away.

Most of the local job opportunities this summer will probably be in the manufacture of durable goods and in education, the survey said.

The industries most likely to have layoffs are outside of durable goods manufacturing. And the outlook for the wholesale and retail trades, which usually grow strongly, is murky, Manpower says.