SHRM LINE survey: Hiring in manufacturing expected to increase slightly in November compared with year ago

The U.S. private sector labor force is expected to make small gains in hiring in November, but the pace of job increases has slowed considerably in recent months, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for November 2010.

The manufacturing hiring index will improve in November on a year-over-year basis by a net of 10.7 points (a net of 28.5 percent of companies will hire in November, compared with 17.8 percent that added jobs a year ago).

For instance, the net number of manufacturers that are hiring has dropped for the past three months (38 percent in September, 29.3 percent in October, 28.5 percent in November).

Even though only a small percentage of respondents reported having a tougher time finding top talent, the level of difficulty increased compared with a year ago. In the manufacturing sector, a net of 8.6 percent of respondents had more difficulty with recruiting in October. This is a modest net increase of 15.4 points from October 2009, when a net of 6.8 percent reported less difficulty with recruiting.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 3.2 percent of respondents reported increasing new-hire compensation in October (4.1 percent increased, 0.9 percent decreased). That is an increase of 3.3 points from October 2009.

The full report, which also includes data for the service sector, can be found here.