A Manpower report out Tuesday says employers in Georgia expect steady hiring in 2013’s second quarter. But Georgia’s employment outlook is one of the weakest in the nation.

A survey of employers found a net 8 percent plan to hire from April to June in Georgia. That compares to a net of 11 percent nationwide.

Georgia's hiring outlook is down from a year ago, when a net of 12 percent of Georgia employers planned to hire.

Georgia State University economist Rajiv Dhawan says there are several reasons why businesses are less willing to hire.

“Some of these employers might be related to the defense industry and that is going to suffer a lot more from the sequester than the other ones. And the other thing is the cut back in the payroll tax is going to ripple through the system in terms of spending. So retail industries, restaurants and other people, they will be a little bit reluctant to expand given that consumers will be cutting back.”he says.

Dhawan says another challenge is uncertainty in how Congress will address the deficit.
He says “The businesses become a little bit reluctant to state their intentions or to follow up on their intentions to hire.”

Rob Perisano, with Experis Manpower, says while the information technology industry is not expanding, hiring is strong for IT jobs in other industries in Georgia.

“Of course information technology ranges across several industries, like manufacturing, transportation, financial as well as well as leisure and hospitality side. And even on the government side. We’re continuing to see a strong increase in those areas.” he says.

The Manpower report says job prospects in Georgia appear to be best in construction, nondurable goods manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, financial activities, education and health services, leisure and hospitality and transportation and utilities.

Persiano says there are some industries that plan to reduce staffing levels in Georgia.

He says “Durable goods manufacturing, also in some areas where its some logistics and information as well that we’re seeing a little bit of a decline or just leveling off.”

Tags: hiring, job outlook, Manpower Survey, job prospects