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Employment Prospects Improve Slightly, Employers Report

BNA’s Quarterly Employment Outlook – 1st Quarter 2009

NEWS RELEASE

Contacts:
Karen James Cody
kcody@bna.com / www.bna.com/press

Arlington, Va. (June 8, 2009) – Employment prospects have improved slightly since last quarter but remain well below levels reported 12 months ago, according to projections from 325 employers responding to BNA’s latest quarterly employment survey.

BNA survey results show that:

• Nineteen percent of employers plan to add technical and professionals positions in the third quarter of 2009, up 3 percentage points from the previous quarter (16 percent) but down 5 points from the same period one year ago (24 percent) and well below levels in 2006 and 2008.
  
• Increased demand for technical and professional staff has come from manufacturing and nonbusiness enterprises. Among manufacturers, there has been a 7-point increase since last quarter (to 15 percent). Similarly, nonbusiness organizations report a 5-point increase (to 22 percent) in plans to expand the number of professional and technical workers.

• Eight percent of employers anticipate hiring office and clerical workers in the third quarter, a modest 2-point increase since last quarter but well below the 16 percent that expected to hire more workers in this category in the third quarter of 2008.

• There has been practically no change since last quarter in the hiring outlook for production and service workers. One in seven employers (14 percent) plans to add these staff in the third quarter, up a marginal 1-point since last quarter but still down 11 points from the third quarter of 2008 (25 percent) and well below levels in 2006 through 2008.

• Despite improvements since last quarter in anticipated hiring, reports of workers on layoff have risen in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter of this year and the second quarter of 2008. The situation is most dire for production and service workers, with twenty-seven percent of employers reporting layoffs of these staff in the second quarter, up from 13 percent in the first quarter and 7 percent one year ago. Employer furloughs of production and service staff has reached levels not seen since the second quarter of 1987.

• Nearly one in four employers (24 percent) have laid off office and clerical staff, up 15 points since last quarter (9 percent) and 21 points since the second quarter of 2008.

• One consequence of the weak labor market has been a decline in job vacancies. Only three percent of employers report difficulty filling office and clerical positions in the second quarter, down 1 point since the first quarter. Fewer than one in ten employers (7 percent) report some difficulty filling vacant production and service positions, a 3-point decline from first quarter figures. Nearly three in ten employers (29 percent) have some vacant technical and professional positions, down 6 points since last quarter (35 percent) and off 30 points since second quarter of 2008.

Further details and breakdowns by industry category (manufacturing, nonmanufacturing, nonbusiness), size, and region are contained in the full 2-page report. For press copies, or to interview BNA Surveys Director Matthew Sottong, contact Karen James Cody at (703) 341-3476 or kcody@bna.com.

BNA’s survey of the employment outlook has been conducted quarterly since 1974. This quarter’s report is based on responses from 325 human resource and employee relations executives representing a cross-section of U.S. employers, both public and private.

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BNA is the leading independent publisher of print and electronic news and information for professionals in business and government. BNA produces more than 300 news services, including the highly respected Daily Labor Report, U.S. Law Week,and Daily Report for Executives. Visit BNA online at www.bna.com