A new survey shows Iowa business owners are growing more confident about boosting their staffing levels. Kathy Joblinske is a spokesperson for Manpower, Incorporated which has released its Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2012.
It shows 18% of the Iowa companies surveyed plan to add employees between January and March. Only 7% anticipate decreasing staff levels. That yields a net employment outlook of 11%.
The results compare to an overall outlook of just 6% in the first quarter one year ago. Employers in construction plan to reduce staffing levels over the next four months, but Joblinske says many other sectors of the economy could be growing.
She says the top job prospects in Iowa heading into the new year appear to be in manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale/retail trade, information, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality. Nationally, 14-percent of the companies surveyed expect to add to their workforces and 9% expect a decline in their payrolls during the first quarter of 2012.
More than 18,000 employers are surveyed in the U.S. as part of the quarterly Manpower report.