Employers in mood to hire staff

EMPLOYERS remain more inclined to hire than fire staff in the coming months, a survey showed yesterday, but the level of optimism has dipped after recent, high-profile job cuts in the manufacturing sector.

Of 657 Irish employers surveyed for global employment agency Manpower, 17% said they expect to take on more people in the fourth quarter of 2005 while just 3% said they were likely to reduce their workforce between October and December.

That gives a net employment outlook for the quarter of plus 14, unchanged from the same period last year but below the plus 20 recorded in June when the survey recorded its most optimistic reading since the second quarter of 2002.