Bankruptcy

Looking for Work? More Companies Looking to Hire, Survey Says

By Meaghan Olson

As the weather warms up around the country, a new survey shows the job market may be starting to thaw.

A survey by the National Association for Business Economics released yesterday revealed the most optimistic job outlook in several years.

Business leaders said they expect to lay off fewer employees and hire more new workers in the coming months.

The survey was conducted from Mar. 25 to April 10, and spanned business leaders and members of the NABE, said the Associated Press in their report. Some numbers from the survey:

• 22 percent of companies said they planned to increase payrolls, up from just 13 percent in January.
• 37 percent expected to add employees in the next six months.
• 13 percent expected to lay off workers. From the same survey in January 28 percent of companies expected layoffs.
• More than half saw stronger demand in their industry.

Add these up and the job market looks much better than it did just a few months ago. Big industries like finance, insurance and real estate all said they had plans to add more new hires in the next few months than they were in previous quarters. Meanwhile, a mere 3 percent of survey respondents predicted "significant" layoffs, and many companies reported having more merchandise and materials on hand than previous quarters.

So if you're among the unemployed or underemployed it may time to dust off the resume and give it a workout, because companies have plans to hire more workers soon. It's unclear how much of an immediate impact this could have on bankruptcy filing rates.

Full post as published by The Bankruptcy Blog on April 27, 2010 (boomark / email).