Employer survey shows hiring to remain stable

Employers are predicting another stable quarter of hiring, with 27% of companies expecting to add positions in the last three months of the year, according to a survey of 14,000 U.S. companies being released today.

Nine percent of companies said they expected to reduce employment, according to the survey by Milwaukee-based global staffing firm Manpower Inc.

The numbers are on par with hiring intentions from the same quarter last year, when 28% of employers predicted they would increase hiring and 8% expected a decrease.

The numbers also show employers are holding off on making any big moves amid the ups and downs on Wall Street and a sagging housing market, said Jonas Prising, president of Manpower North America. Given the uncertainty about the economy, stable hiring is good news, he said.

In the latest report, the majority of employers -- 58% -- expected no change in hiring between October and December, while 6% of companies were unsure of their plans.

For the July-September quarter, 29% of employers said they planned to increase hiring and 7% said they planned a decline.

The latest survey continues a 15-quarter stretch of fairly strong hiring intentions, in which more than 20% of companies surveyed said they planned to add to their staffs.

The quarterly survey, which has been conducted since 1962, shows little change from the last quarter is expected in a majority of job categories, including construction, finance, retail, education and services.

The West continues to outpace other regions, with 33% of employers saying they planned to increase hiring, up from 31% last quarter. Ten percent said they planned to decrease hiring, up from 8% last quarter.