U.S. First-Quarter Hiring Plans Near 5-Year Low, Manpower Says

By Timothy R. Homan

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Hiring plans by U.S. employers for the first quarter of next year held near a five-year low, signaling a weak labor market will persist into 2009, according to a private survey.

Manpower Inc., the world’s second-largest provider of temporary workers, said its employment gauge for January through March climbed to 10 from a reading of 9 in the last three months of this year, the lowest since 2003.

The highest jobless rate in 15 years, falling property values and the credit crunch signal companies are unlikely to expand. Cutbacks in consumer spending are pushing the U.S. economy deeper into what may become the longest recession in seven decades.

“A majority of employers are carefully monitoring the uncertain economic environment prior to making any additional employment decisions,” Jeffrey Joerres, chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Manpower, said in a statement.

Employers cut 533,000 workers from payrolls in November, the most since 1974 and the 11th consecutive decline, while the unemployment rate jumped to 6.7 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 17 in the first quarter of 2008. The survey was taken in the last two weeks of October.

Industry Breakdown

Employers in nine of 13 industries surveyed anticipated staff increases, led by mining and professional and business services. Construction employers had the weakest employment outlook, followed by manufacturers.

Businesses in the West had the lowest hiring prospects for the first quarter, followed by the Northeast. The Midwest and South showed the most optimistic employment plans.

The U.S. slowdown has spread to other major economies, the report showed. Canada and Switzerland were the only countries besides the U.S. with improved outlooks for the first quarter compared with the previous three months, while employers in 21 in the 33 countries surveyed reported the weakest hiring plans on record.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the world’s largest brewer, said yesterday it plans to cut about 1,400 jobs in the U.S. The company also said it won’t fill 250 open positions and will eliminate an additional 415 positions at contractors.

The Manpower survey is conducted quarterly and has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.6 percentage point in the U.S. The company interviewed 31,800 employers in the U.S. for its national outlook, while the global survey consists of responses from more than 71,000 businesses worldwide.

To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy R. Homan in Washington at thoman1@bloomberg.net