Metro area employment outlook ranks below national average

SEVENTY-ONE PERCENT of employers in the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metro area do not plan to increase or decrease hiring efforts in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to a Forbes report. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/SUSAN GOLDMAN
SEVENTY-ONE PERCENT of employers in the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metro area do not plan to increase or decrease hiring efforts in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to a Forbes report. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/SUSAN GOLDMAN

(Updated, 11:29 a.m.)

PROVIDENCE – Most employers in the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River metro area do not anticipate any change in hiring in the fourth quarter of 2013, Forbes reported last week.

Seventy-one percent of metro area employers expect no change in hiring over the next three months, while 19 percent plan to increase their payrolls and 8 percent intend to cut jobs.

The remaining 2 percent are uncertain of their hiring plans for the third quarter.

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The area’s net employment outlook for the three months ending in December — the percentage of employers that expect to add employees minus the percentage that expect to reduce their workforce — came in at 11 percent, placing the Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts metro area below the national average of 13 percent.

ManpowerGroup, a Milwaukee, Wis.-based HR consulting firm, surveyed more than 18,000 employers in 100 metropolitan statistical areas to compile the rankings, according to the Forbes report.

Providence-New Bedford-Fall River ranked 53rd.

Of the employers surveyed nationwide, 18 percent anticipate an increase in hiring in the fourth quarter, while 8 percent expect a decrease.

The national net employment outlook of 13 percent is seasonally adjusted, up from 11 percent the same period last year and 12 percent last quarter.

Seventy-two percent of employers surveyed nationally expect no change in their staffing, and the final 2 percent of employers are uncertain.

The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metro area in Texas led the country with a 23 percent net employment outlook, while the St. Louis metro area trailed with a net employment outlook of 1 percent.

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