Today the ManpowerGroup released the Employment Outlook Survey results for the third quarter…

  • 20% of the 18,000 employers we interviewed in the U.S. plan to add to staff between July and September.  You could call this good news for those who are looking for work.
  • 8% plan to reduce their workforce.
  • 69% expect their workforce to remain the same.  This is good news for those of us who are currently employed.
  • All 50 states show a positive employment Outlook.
  • Nine of the 13 industry sectors are looking to hire.

The good news — this is the largest percentage of employers planning to add staff since the fourth quarter of 2008, the positive trends are widespread AND we’ve seen seven straight quarters of employment growth.

The not-so-good news — while this is a good trend, the increases aren’t quite as robust as we’d like them to be.  So while I’m tired of being cautiously optimistic, that’s where I remain. 

Cautious!