Staffing firm Manpower Canada said Tuesday that there's a "hopeful hiring climate" for the country for the first quarter of 2011.
Its quarterly survey of employers showed a positive reading of 14%, which it called "on par" with the outlook going into the current fourth quarter. It was three percentage points better than the same survey a year earlier.
Its poll of more than 1,900 employers across the country showed 16% intending to add staff in the early part of the new year, 11% planning cutbacks and the rest either unsure or expecting staff levels to remain the same. The overall score is the proportion planning to add staff minus those who will cut, then adjusted for seasonal fluctuations. No margin of error was provided.
Wholesale-and-retail was the most promising sector for hiring intentions going into the next quarter, with a positive outlook of 17%, up five points from the previous quarterly survey.
All of Manpower's 10 main job sectors have positive hiring outlooks for the next quarter. Besides retail and wholesale, there was also a quarter-to-quarter improvement in transportation and public utilities. There was no change in public administration. All other sectors' hiring outlooks worsened from the fourth-quarter survey, especially mining, which fell 12 points to 12%.
Regionally, the hiring sentiment is strongest in Western Canada, according to the Manpower survey, where the outlook is 16%. That's followed by 13% in Atlantic Canada, 12% in Ontario and 7% in Quebec.
