Jobs Not Likely to Blossom This Spring, O.C. Survey Says
Spring may be the growth season for Easter lilies, but it could be a slow season this year for employment, according to a new survey of Orange County businesses by temporary help agency Manpower Inc.
Only about 13% of local companies interviewed for Manpower’s quarterly survey said they expect to add staff in April, May and June, compared with 29% that predicted spring hiring last year. And 5% of those surveyed said they were looking at payroll cuts in the second quarter, up from just 1% a year ago.
The survey results predict that Orange County will be the slowest growing employment market in Southern California next quarter, but also paint it as the region’s most stable, with 82% of the surveyed employers saying their payrolls won’t change during the period.
“The results were a bit surprising because the growth was slower than we’ve become use to,” said Sue Foigelman, Irvine-based area manager for Manpower. “I guess things have got to slow down sometime.”
Manpower’s findings are in keeping with predictions by economists at Cal State Fullerton and Chapman University who have said they expect 1998 to be a year of moderate job growth in the county.
Milwaukee-based Manpower, which specializes in placing temporary workers, asks employers about permanent employment plans in order to identify market niches that it might be able to exploit. Nationally, the company surveys 16,000 businesses each quarter--including more than 100 in Orange County.
For the coming quarter, Foigelman said, the company’s survey found that job opportunities in Orange County will be best in education, business and personal services and the finance, insurance and real estate industries. Employers in the transportation and public utilities industries are most likely to be laying off, with manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade remaining fairly stable.
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John O’Dell covers major Orange County corporations and manufacturing for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at john.odell@latimes.com.
