Fewer Georgia employers plan to hire additional workers this summer compared to the spring.

But four out of five Georgia companies -- 79 percent -- said they will maintain their current staff right now, according to Manpower’s third-quarter employment outlook. That’s 7 points better than the second quarter and 9 points above last summer.

The staffing firm’s Beth Herman said Georgia as a whole is outperforming metro Atlanta and the nation.

“We haven’t seen numbers like that in a very long time," said Herman, director of Manpower's Atlanta regional office. "So that tells me, if I’m currently working, 79 percent of the companies out there say, ‘You’re good. We’re good. We’re comfortable. We’re not laying off. We’re going to maintain who we have.’ I think that’s a very positive number.”

Herman said her clients also want to hire permanent employees, not short-term workers.

“Our 'perm' business has never been better. We have a lot of companies that are coming to us saying, ‘You know what, no, don’t want to hire temp, don’t want to do contract-to-perm, we need to hire this person now. Do a full-time search for us,'" she said.

Still, the survey’s net employment outlook is down for Georgia because fewer employers are adding new jobs: 14 percent plan to increase staffing levels, down from 18 percent last quarter and 21 percent a year ago.

Herman said the outlook is best in the metro Atlanta area and larger cities like Macon, Columbus and Gainesville.

Tags: Manpower Inc., employment outlook, hiring, third quarter