City of Phoenix Jobs to Increase Next Year

More City of Phoenix jobs (Click here) will be added early on next year.

The most recent Employment Outlook Survey from Manpower Inc. found that businesses in the Phoenix area will post job gains during Q1 2010. The report found that 16 percent of local companies plan to hire new employees, while 11 percent plan to cut jobs and 71 percent plan to maintain existing staff levels.

"Compared with the previous quarter when 14 percent of companies interviewed intended to add employees, and 18 percent planned to reduce staff levels, area hiring levels appear to be stronger," Manpower Spokesman Joseph Tuerff said.

In addition, the report found that employers are more optimistic than they were in late 2008, when 17 percent planned to increase staff levels and 17 percent planned to decrease staff levels.

The latest labor statistics show that the economy in Phoenix is already starting to improve, despite a climbing unemployment rate.

During October, the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area saw its unemployment rate increase from 8.6 percent to 8.7 percent, but that rate was still lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 10.2 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 1,720,900 workers during October, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 1,707,100 workers during September, but a 7.3 percent decrease from last year.

The Manpower report found the best job prospects in the Phoenix area to be in the nondurable goods manufacturing; wholesale; retail; information; financial; and hospitality sectors. The government industry is expected to face the biggest number of job cuts.

The report surveyed a total of more than 28,000 employers. Of those, 12 percent plan to hire new employees from January to March 2010, 12 percent plan to reduce payroll and 73 percent expect to make no staffing changes.

Columbus, Ga., was ranked first in the report, showing the most promising job prospects out of the 201 metropolitan statistical areas that were surveyed. San Juan, Puerto Rico, was ranked as the least promising city for job prospects.