Retail job outlook positive

Florida employers expect to hire at a rapid pace between April and June, according to a quarterly forecast by staffing company ManpowerGroup. The national survey of 1,900 employers is two per cent higher than the last quarter and seven per cent higher than the same period past year.

According to the advisory firm, manpower demand remained solid and enterprises appeared upbeat about their recruitment over the next three months at a time of economic recovery.

Modest hiring plans are reported in the mining and construction sector with an outlook of +7%, and in the transportation and utilities sector, where the outlook is +6%.

While the general outlook for jobseekers across the globe looks increasingly positive, surveys suggest the U.S., Asia-Pacific, and Northern Europe are the regions where employment outlook is the most optimistic. The strongest outlooks are reported in Leisure & Hospitality (+28%), Professional & Business Services (+23%), Wholesale & Retail Trade (+23%), and Durable Goods Manufacturing (+19%).

Employers expect to increase staffing levels in all seven industry sectors during the upcoming quarter.

[1] The Net Employment Outlook is calculated by subtracting the percentage of employers anticipating a decrease in hiring activity from the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in employment.

Meanwhile, the hiring scene is looking up in other countries, too.

ManpowerGroup said the net hiring outlook of the engineering/construction sector and the retail/wholesale sector stood at 26 percent, ahead of the transportation/warehousing/communications sector's 21 percent and the leisure/food/hospitality sector's 17 percent.

Among businesses in 44 countries surveyed, business in all but one country expect to add staff over the next three months, with the greatest optimism for new hiring found in in Croatia, followed closely by Taiwan in the number two spot. None of the 4,612 employers surveyed across sectors by US-based workforce solutions company ManpowerGroup said they planned to downsize in April-June 2018. When compared with the previous quarter, hiring prospects are five percentage points stronger for medium employers, and micro employers report an improvement of four percentage points. Some upward momentum is detected in the year-over-year comparison with forecasts improving in 25 of 43 countries and territories, declining in 13, and remaining unchanged in five. When compared to the same period previous year, the outlook remains upbeat despite notable declines in hiring expectations in crucial sectors such as Mining & Construction and Manufacturing.