Houston area employment expects to rise in the next quarter

Businesses in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area expect to hire at an active pace through the second quarter 2010, according to a report issued by employment firm Manpower Inc.

Milwaukee-based Manpower concluded from the 18,000 companies interviewed:

• 20 percent plan to hire more employees;
• 7 percent said they planned to reduce their payrolls;
• 72 percent said they planned to keep their staff levels the same; and
• 1 percent was not certain of their hiring plans.

At 13 percent, the net employment outlook for the second quarter is a sharp increase over the 9 percent for the same period last year. The net employment outlook is calculated by taking the percentage of employers planning to hire and subtracting it by those planning to lay off workers.

For the coming quarter, job prospects looked best in construction, durable goods manufacturing, non-durable goods manufacturing, wholesale retail and trade, and the financial and health care industries.

Source