A survey finds job prospects look good for the coming few months in Iowa. Manpower Incoporated does quarterly surveys with employers statewide and spokesman Mike Lynch says the April-to-June time frame should be promising for job-seekers.

Lynch says 27-percent of employers surveyed in Des Moines plan to increase staff while seven-percent plan to decrease staff, giving Iowa’s largest city a 20-percent net increase. Elsewhere, he says the survey shows employers in Waterloo, Sioux City, Muscatine and Cedar Rapids all plan to do more hiring during the upcoming quarter. Despite some ups and downs, Lynch says Iowa’s numbers look good overall for hiring.

Lynch says “It’s a little bit less optimistic than we were at this point last year, specifically for the Des Moines area, when 40-percent of those employers surveyed planned on increasing staff, but it’s a little bit more positive than it was for the first quarter of 2007.” He says job prospects appear best in durable goods manufacturing, transportation/public utilities, services and public administration.

Employers in non-durable goods manufacturing plan to reduce staffing levels, while those in wholesale/retail trade voice mixed hiring intentions. Lynch says hiring in construction, finance/insurance/real estate and education is expected to remain unchanged. He says the figures are corrected for seasonal changes so this should be an accurate picture of hiring intentions. Lynch says on the national level, there’s a downtrend in hiring, so Iowa’s bucking the trend. 

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey .