Area employers found less optimistic about jobs

12/11/2007

After forecasts of healthy hiring for the end of 2007, Toledo-area employers are less optimistic about jobs in early 2008.

About 20 percent of local firms expect to hire during the January-through-March period and 20 percent plan to trim staff, compared with 37 percent expecting to hire and 3 percent to cut staff in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to a quarterly survey released today by Manpower Inc., national temporary-staffing firm. For the first quarter of 2007, 33 percent of local employers planned to hire and 23 percent planned to reduce staff.

Nationally, Manpower found, 22 percent of employers would add jobs and 12 percent would cut in the first quarter of 2008.