Metro area employment outlook for third quarter weak

Jun 9, 2009 1 min read

The employment outlook for the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area for

the third quarter of 2009 is “one of the weakest in the nation,”

according to a report released today from Manpower, an employment

services company.

The majority of local respondents – 64 percent – to Manpower’s

Employment Outlook Survey said they would maintain their current

staff levels from July through September. Eight percent of local

companies plan to hire more workers and 22 percent plan to cutback on

their payrolls.

Although the employment outlook locally is bleak, the third quarter

of 2009 looks better for hiring than the second quarter did.

“The hiring activity is expected to be slightly stronger than the

previous quarter when 12 percent of companies surveyed planned to

increase staff levels and 28 percent expected to cut payrolls,”

Manpower spokesperson Judy Leppla said in a news release.