U.S. Fourth-Quarter Hiring Plans at 5-Year Low, Manpower Says

By Shobhana Chandra

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Fewer U.S. employers plan to hire in the fourth quarter, according to a private survey that shows the worst holiday-season job prospects on record at retailers.

Manpower Inc., the world's second-largest provider of temporary workers, said its employment gauge for October through December slumped to 9, the lowest level since 2003. The reading for stores and wholesalers was the weakest for any fourth quarter since Manpower began keeping track in 1972.

``Retailers are bracing themselves for a very weak holiday season,'' Jeffrey Joerres, chief executive officer of Milwaukee- based Manpower, said in an interview. ``The weakness has spread beyond construction and the financial sector to other parts of the economy.''

The highest jobless rate in five years, slumping home values and tougher bank-lending guidelines raise concern shoppers will retrench during what's traditionally the busiest time of year for merchants. A slump in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, would bring an end to the expansion.

Employers cut 84,000 workers from payrolls in August, the eighth consecutive decline, and the unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent, the Labor Department said last week.

Manpower's index subtracts the percentage of employers planning to cut jobs from those who plan to add them, and adjusts the results for seasonal variations. On that basis, the net employment outlook fell from 18 in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Industry Breakdown

Hiring plans at six of 10 industries surveyed, including manufacturing and retail, dropped in the fourth quarter from the prior three months. Mining was the only industry that projected an increase in jobs, while construction, education and public administration predicted little change.

Employers in the Midwest held the weakest hiring prospects for the fourth quarter, followed by the South. The Northeast showed the most optimistic hiring plans.

Manpower interviewed more than 14,000 employers in the U.S.

The U.S. slowdown has spread to other major economies, the report showed. Hiring plans in Spain were at a five-year low, while employers in the U.K.'s finance and business-services industries reported the weakest job prospects since 1999.

While job prospects slowed across Asia, the pace of hiring in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier was predicted to rise in India and Taiwan, and remain little changed in China.

The Manpower survey is conducted quarterly and has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.8 percentage point in the U.S. and no more than plus or minus 3.9 percent for national, regional and global data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington schandra1@bloomberg.net.