The latest survey on employers’ hiring patterns is a good news/bad news affair. On the up side, business owners don’t really plan on laying more people off in the next few months. On the down side, they also don’t expect to be hiring all that many people.

Every quarter, staffing biggie Manpower Inc. surveys 18,000 employers in 200 metropolitan areas to get a bead on where their employment needs will be. And for Spring 2010, about 73% of those surveyed say they expect no change in their hiring plans.

The silver lining comes here: Only about 8% said they plan to cut staff this spring. That’s down quite a bit from the 12% in the last survey, and last spring’s 14%.

And while it’s not an earth-shattering figure, about 16% of employers said they expect to hire new people.

In terms of who will be hiring, the survey says the leisure/hospitality field, along with business services and mining, look strong in coming months.

The Northeast states have the rosiest outlook in terms of employers expecting to hire, followed in order by the South, West and then Midwest; though it should be noted that no region was expected to show an overall loss in jobs for the quarter.

“Things certainly seem to be turning around in many aspects of the economy,” said Manpower VP Melanie Holmes. “I really don’t think employers are 100% confident yet, but I do think their confidence is building.”

Employers still skittish on hiring [CNN]

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