More Employee Cutting And Less Hiring

2007 is full of surprises for US and Canadian employees. Following the Manpower Inc.'s 2007 Employment Outlook Survey employee cutting will exceed hiring. All those employees who expected good changes in 2007 are disappointed.

About 23 % of Seattle-based employers polled hope that the first quarter of 2007 will be full of hiring, about 72 % expect no change, and 5 % think of cuts.

The biggest percentage of hiring is expected in Everett-Lynnwood area: 43 %. Washington employees hope 24 % hiring, 60 % stability, and 23 % cuts.

Here is what Canadian survey says. 14 % of Ontario employers expect new staff, while 16 % expect cuts. Comparing these statistics with last quarter's when hiring was 15 %, 2007 is definitely increasing in employee hiring.

In Canada the destinies of cities and province's are radically different: staff addition will overcome reduction with 25 %. So the city employees are in better situation. "Western Canada is experiencing such a huge infrastructure boom everywhere that everything is increasing for them," said Lori Rogers, vice-president and general manager at Manpower Canada. "There are no negatives at all in any of the industry sectors. It's all booming out there."

Meanwhile Atlantic Canada is expecting 12 % cutting and 4 % hiring. Rogers cautioned against overreacting to the Ontario numbers. "There's nothing alarming in the Ontario net employment outlook. It's pretty steady for the first quarter of the year, it's a steady outlook for those looking for employment in 2007," she said. "It's pretty normal for the first quarter of the year to go down; it's not the biggest hiring quarter for employers."

The biggest increase of staff additions are expected in manufacturing, financial services, high-tech, transportation and public utilities.

So the nationwide summary is: 91 % of 1400 polled Chief Financial Officers (CFO) expect no change, 6 % are going to increase hiring, and 3 % increase cutting.

By Ruzan Harutyunyan for HULIQ