In a report released Tuesday, an employment firm called Manpower found that 20 percent of employers in the Dayton area plan to hire in the next three months. That’s up from 18 percent last year, constituting a marginal increase.
But Tom Maher with Manpower in Dayton is optimistic.
“It certainly reflects a positive momentum, for job searchers, and that’s a good thing,” he said. The report shows construction, manufacturing and hospitality are among the areas adding jobs in the coming quarter; retail and the financial sector also say they’ll be hiring. But a full 70 percent of employers said they won’t hire, and 7 percent will cut jobs.
The areas facing cuts include government jobs, healthcare, education and IT.
“Some of that’s due to seasonality, some of it’s due to government funding or the lack thereof, and some of that’s due primarily to to the demand of their customers,” Maher said.
The unemployment rate in the greater Dayton area is basically flat compared to a year ago, around 7.8 percent. And the number of people in the labor force has been flat or declining, meaning that many have given up the search altogether and are no longer included in the unemployment count.