Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

A sign of better times: Surveys suggest more companies will hire workers in first quarter

With the economy beginning to turn around, a number of local companies seem poised to begin adding staff in the coming months.

In its quarterly survey released Tuesday, Manpower Inc. said it expects some 23 percent of local companies will hire more employees in the first quarter of 2004, while 77 percent surveyed said they plan to maintain their current staff levels.

That compares with last year's first-quarter survey when only 10 percent of local companies said they planned an increase in staffing levels and another 10 percent said they planned to cut back on staff.

The news is sure to bring solace to those valley residents enduring a job hunt this holiday season.

"This is the news we were waiting for," said Dawn Hathaway, vice president of Manpower of Southern Nevada. "This is a good indicator that business is returning to the levels that were seen prior to the recession."

Hathaway added that, for the first time in five years, employers planned a hiring increase from the fourth quarter to the first quarter of the new year.

The news is not quite as good farther north, though.

In Reno, only 3 percent of companies surveyed said they plan an increase in staffing levels while 10 percent plan a decrease. Sixty percent of companies surveyed there do not plan a change in staffing levels. Statewide, 13 percent of companies plan a staffing increase while only 5 percent plan a decrease.

"Overall, the economy is turning around and the staffing industry tends to be an excellent indicator of the economy," Hathaway said.

Manpower said local job prospects appear the best in construction, transportation, wholesale/retail, education and the service sector. The survey also said hiring in the manufacturing, real estate, insurance and financial sectors will remain unchanged, although a separate survey released recently mentioned hiring in the financial and accounting sectors will see a modest increase.

With several in-progress construction projects in and around the valley, 2004 appears to be an exciting year, says Dick Rizzo, chairman of Perini Building Co. His company is working on the expansion of the Palms and the planned Marriott Renaissance Hotel on Paradise Road next to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"The first part of next year will be very positive for us and, overall, it looks very bullish," Rizzo said.

Nationally, 20 percent of companies surveyed by Manpower said they plan to do a hiring push in the first quarter, while only 13 percent expect a slower hiring pace.

Figures from the Alexandria, Va.-based American Staffing Association showed that for the third quarter of this year, temporary-staffing employment was up 6.8 percent nationally over the same period last year. With the fourth quarter almost over, the numbers were already showing a continued improvement, association spokesman Steve Berchem said.

Meanwhile, first-quarter hiring in the information technology sector is also expected to see a 3 percent increase, according to figures released recently from Robert Half Technology, a unit of Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing company Robert Half International.

Las Vegas-based Robert Half branch manager Brian Gabrielson said all signs point to better days ahead.

"This reflects the steady growth we have seen over the past couple of months. It's not a major spike, but things are headed in the right direction," Gabrielson said.

He said local IT professionals should see an increase in technology hiring among the gaming, utilities and construction industries over the next few months.

Approximately 1,400 chief information officers were polled nationally from a survey of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees for Robert Half's IT Hiring Index.

Separately, Robert Half's Financial Hiring Index, also recently released, said 11 percent of chief financial officers in the Mountain Region, which includes Nevada, plan to add full-time staff to their respective companies.

"The information we have is fairly consistent that there are expectations of an economic expansion next year," said Keith Schwer, director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Center for Business and Economic Research.