Manufacturing recruiting set for go slow

A Manpower product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 23, 2003

Employer confidence in the manufacturing sector for the first three months of 2004 is slightly lower than the Q1 average over the last 12 years, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

Employer confidence in the manufacturing sector for the first three months of 2004 is slightly lower than the Q1 average over the last 12 years, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey provides a forecast of employer hiring intentions for the quarter ahead: January to March 2004.

2500 UK employers were surveyed in the UK and over 35,000 employers in 18 countries globally.

The net employment outlook (the balance of employers forecasting to take on more staff) for the manufacturing sector is +3% compared with a UK sector average of +9%.

Hazel Detsiny, Director of Manpower, comments: "Employer hiring intentions have fallen in this sector from this time last quarter (down 4 percentage points) and this time last year (down 10 percentage points).

This poor forecast by employers in the sector reflects the lack of employer optimism recently cited by the CBI, which predicts that 36,000 industrial jobs will be lost between December 2003 and February 2004.

What is becoming increasingly evident is that employers in the sector remain uncertain and are cautious to reflect any sign of optimism through job creation." Looking at the manufacturing sector around Europe, the majority of Europe's manufacturing employers reported a less optimistic outlook than the previous quarter.

Whereas the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden reported the strongest markets, the UK joined Sweden, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and Austria with negative employment prospects for the forthcoming quarter.

Across the other industry sectors, the hotels and retail sector reported a positive outlook of +8%, which is markedly above the Q1 average of -5% for the last 12 years.

Construction is the most positive sector surveyed with an outlook of +15% followed by employers in the transport and communications, which reported a buoyant forecast for the first three months of the year with an outlook of +13%.

Employers in agriculture were the only sector where more employers predicted that they will reduce staffing levels than take on more staff for the first three months of 2004.

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