Employment Outlook in Nashville Among Strongest in Country

Nashville Business Journal

by Jordan Markley

Nashville’s employment outlook is the fifth best of any metropolitan area in the nation according to a ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey released today. The survey polled 18,000 businesses in 100 metropolitan areas across the country about their hiring plans for the third quarter.

Businesses in the Nashville area overwhelmingly reported their intention to maintain or increase the size of their workforce between July and September.

Sixty-six percent of businesses said they would maintain their workforce, while 25 percent said they intended to increase staff levels. Six percent announced plans to cut workers.

The Net Employment Outlook for Nashville, a figure that the ManpowerGroup derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting a decrease in hiring activity, was 19 percent — up 14 percentage points from one year ago.

The ManpowerGroup reported that increased hiring across the South would be concentrated in fewer sectors than in the second quarter. They anticipate a slight increase in the hiring pace in the construction, transportation & utilities, wholesale & retail Trade and information sectors.

The seasonally adjusted Net Employment Outlook for the Nation was 8 percent. That’s up from the 6 percent reported for the third quarter of 2010, but the number remains lower than in previous decades.

Despite the lower expectations for the nation, Jonah Prising, ManpowerGroup president of the Americas, remains optimistic about the national employment picture.

“Our data shows that one in five employers plan to add staff in the next three months, the highest ratio we’ve seen since the recovery started,” said Prising, “As more employers shift to hiring mode, we are starting to see talented job seekers receive multiple employment offers, and also negotiate for higher salaries.”