22% OF AREA EMPLOYERS PLANNING MORE HIRING

Construction, making durable goods are top prospects, survey says.

The need for qualified employees hasn’t slackened and the best job prospects are in construction and durable goods manufacturing, a new quarterly survey found.

Among Dayton-area employers surveyed by Manpower Group, 22 percent plan to hire additional workers from April through June.

Five percent plan to reduce payrolls, while 73 percent of employers expect to maintain current staffing, the survey found.

That yields a “net employment outlook” of 17 percent — the percentage of employers who plan to cut staff subtracted from the percentage who plan to hire more workers.

Tom Maher, owner of the Kettering-based Manpower Group franchise, noted that in the last quarter, the first of the year, the net employment outlook was 12 percent.

And at this quarter last year, employers expected more hiring activity when the hiring outlook was 24 percent, he said.

For the coming quarter, the best prospects are in construction, durable goods manufacturing, nondurable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade and other areas.

“We continue to see employers upbeat and adding people when they can find them,” Maher said.

The strength of construction did not surprise him.

But employers in education and health services plan to cut staffing levels, while hiring in information is expected to remain unchanged, the survey found.

According to job numbers released last week, hiring is strong. The Ohio unemployment rate dropped in February to 4.7 percent, down from 4.9 percent in January.

Nationally, the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1 percent in February, but the U.S. experienced its biggest increase in jobs in more than 1.5 years with 313,000 jobs.

Of more than 11,500 employers Manpower surveyed across the country, 23 percent expect to hire and 3 percent expect a decline in their payrolls in the second quarter.

Seventy-three percent of employers anticipate no change to staff levels and the remaining 1 percent is undecided about their hiring plans.

THOMAS GNAU / STAFF The Sheet Metal Workers Local 24 union in Dayton recently advertised for students willing to learn a new trade. Construction is expected to be a top job prospect this quarter.