Milwaukee area employers are more enthusiastic about hiring in the second quarter than they were to start the year, but the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey shows a slight decline from the same time last year.
The survey found 23 percent of employers in the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis metro area plan to increase staff levels in the second quarter, while 3 percent plan to decrease staffing.
The region has a net employment outlook – calculated by subtracting the percent planning to decrease from those planning an increase – of 20 percent. Last year at this time the region’s net employment  outlook was at 23 percent, but heading into the first quarter of 2017 it was at 14 percent.
Manpower highlighted construction, nondurable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, financial activities, professional and business services, education and health services and leisure and hospitality as industries with the best job prospects in the metro area. Employers in wholesale and retail trade are planning staffing reductions while durable goods manufacturing and information are expected to remain unchanged.
Milwaukee’s net employment outlook was not quite as good as the state as a whole. Wisconsin had a net employment outlook of 22 percent for the quarter, up from 12 percent in the first quarter and even with the same time last year. Manpower said job prospects looked good in all sectors included in the survey.
The Madison area’s net employment outlook of 24 percent was an improvement over the 12 percent result heading into the first quarter and 18 percent at this time last year.
Elsewhere in the Midwest, the Chicago metro area showed a strong improvement, moving from a 4 percent net employment outlook for the first quarter to 20 percent in the latest survey. The Chicago region – which stretches west to Naperville and north to Kenosha, was at 13 percent at this point last year.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area did not show much change with a net employment outlook of 17 percent, compared to 16 percent for the first quarter and 19 percent last year.
Nationally, the net employment outlook was at 19 percent, up from 13 percent in the first quarter and 18 percent last year. The seasonally adjusted outlook was 17 percent, up from 16 percent in both the first quarter and last year.
Nashville had the best net employment outlook in the country at 32 percent, followed by Provo, Utah at 29 percent and Colorado Springs, Fresno and Raleigh at 28 percent.
Hartford, Connecticut was last among the top 100 metro areas at 1 percent, followed by New Orleans at 5 percent and Akron, El Paso and North Port, Florida at 7 percent.
Milwaukee’s net employment  outlook was tied for 35th and Madison’s was tied for 9th.
Read more economic data reports on the BizTracker page.
