The “Canada Firms Plan to Add Jobs in First Quarter, Manpower Says - Bloomberg”

Canada Firms Plan to Add Jobs in First Quarter, Manpower Says - Bloomberg

Posted: 06 Dec 2010 08:48 PM PST

Canadian employers plan to increase hiring in the first quarter, led by wholesalers, transportation companies and finance companies, according to a survey by Manpower Inc.

The net employment outlook, which subtracts the percentage of companies planning to cut jobs from the percentage that say they'll hire, was positive for a sixth straight quarter. The outlook posted a seasonally adjusted reading of 14, the same as in the fourth quarter, the survey by Milwaukee-based employment- services firm Manpower showed.

The indicator suggests employers plan to increase production even after growth slowed to a less-than-expected annualized 1 percent rate in the third quarter. Canada has created about 318,000 positions since November 2009, Statistics Canada said Dec. 3.

The survey "predicts a hopeful employment climate in the first quarter," Lori Procher, vice president and general manager at Manpower's Canadian unit in Toronto, said in an interview. "Everything is trending in the more positive direction than in the past couple of years."

Employers in all industries and all regions expect to hire, Procher also said.

The country's unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in November, down from last year's 8.4 percent, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predict it will average 7.8 percent next year.

Wholesalers and retailers are most likely to hire in the first quarter with an employment reading of 17, the survey showed. Transportation companies and public utilities will also add to payrolls, with a reading of 16. Finance, insurance and real estate companies had a reading of 14.

Service companies were least likely to hire, with an outlook of 7, according to the report.

The survey of more than 1,900 employers has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points, and was taken Oct. 14 to Oct. 27.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandre Deslongchamps in Ottawa at adeslongcham@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net; David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured site: So, Why is Wikileaks a Good Thing Again?.