Hiring expectations continue downward spiral

Mass layoffs and other cost-cutting measures have become the norm in early 2009, and that won't change in February for both the manufacturing and service sectors, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey.

February hiring expectations are at four-year lows for the month. Compared with a year ago, hiring in manufacturing is down by more than two-thirds and by more than one-third in the service sector.

Recruiting difficulty was virtually nonexistent in January. Among those in the market for top-level talent, very few members of the manufacturing and service sectors reported having problems.

Compensation growth is sluggish for new hires. Wages and benefits packages increased at a slower annual pace in the manufacturing and service sectors in January for the fourth consecutive month.

The LINE Employment Report examines four key areas: employers' hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies. It is based on a monthly survey of private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector companies. Together, these two sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation's private-sector workers.

The full report can be found here.