Hiring Expected to Pick Up in August

July 25, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Employers in the manufacturing and service sectors are expected to pick up hiring efforts in August, according to the Leading Indicator of National Employment (LINE) from the Society of Human Resource Management and Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations.

The LINE survey finds that 53.5% of manufacturing firms and 57.9% of service sector firms plan to hire in August. Hiring in manufacturing is up from 49.2% in August 2005.

Firms continue to say that finding qualified employees is more difficult than before. According to LINE data, few firms are attempting to remedy the problem by offering higher starting wages.

In July 2006, 11.8% of manufacturing firms reported increasing new-hire compensation, while 10.2% of service sector firms reported increasing new-hire wages in July.

The LINE data is here .

Tagged: Hiring/Firing