While the U.S. manufacturing industry may be getting squeezed by a cooling economy, employers are expected to increase hiring in the coming weeks.
The latest Leading Indicator of National Employment (LINE) index from the Society for Human Resource Management and Rutgers University shows manufacturing employment expectations for March increased from February, with 50.1 percent of employers planning to hire in the next five weeks.
Slightly more manufacturers expect to grow their workforce in March versus the same period a year ago - 58.4 percent versus 55.7 percent - and the “recruiting difficulty index” eased from a year ago.
The survey showed that employers reported increases in the number of exempt vacancies – 28.8 percent versus 25.9 percent – and largely because of seasonal fluctuations, the non-exempt vacancy index rose, from 3.8 percent in January to 17.4 percent in February.
Respondents to the survey offered no evidence of widespread wage inflation.
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The latest Leading Indicator of National Employment (LINE) index from the Society for Human Resource Management and Rutgers University. |
