About 50 percent of Utah employers surveyed plan to maintain employment levels, according to global staffing company Manpower in its quarterly employment survey of 14,000 companies nationwide. With only 3 percent of Utah companies planning on reducing their payrolls, the state has an expected net employment gain of 44 percent.
The net employment outlook is figured by subtracting the percentage of companies that plan to reduce payroll in the first quarter of 2007 from those that expect to do more hiring.
Utah's 44 percent is the eighth-highest level of planned hiring activity among 460 metropolitan areas and is significantly higher than the national net employment outlook of 19 percent.
Even though nearly half of Utah employers want to hire more workers, whether they will have the opportunity is debatable, given the state's tight labor market, said Robert Katz of Manpower in Utah.
Some industries - especially construction, technology and retail - are having trouble filling all or most available positions because of an unemployment rate in the 2.5 percent range. Many companies that operate manufacturing operations are especially in a bind.
"Demand for workers in the state is still high but the supply of available workers, of course, is really, really low," Katz said. "Because the supply is so low, we're seeing employers in some cases lowering their employment standards, being more willing to offer [on-the-job] training, raising wages and even making their benefits packages better."
Employers also are making a greater effort to retain employees, Katz said.
Brad Jackson, owner of Precision Custom Doors in West Jordan, said he is struggling with both recruiting and retention.
Jackson said he has all but given up finding experienced woodworkers for his 32-employee cabinetry manufacturing business in West Jordan. Instead of recruiting experienced employees, he now goes after people right out of high school, as well as new immigrants with little experience. He trains both groups.
When cabinet manufacturer KraftMaid Cabinetry Inc., which is moving a manufacturing operation to West Jordan, tried to recruit one of his supervisory employees, Jackson said he didn't think twice about taking action. "I had no choice but to pay him more money so he would stay."
Mark Knold, economist with the Utah Department of Workforce Services, believes hiring activity will continue strong into next year. He anticipates job growth in 2007 to moderate due in part to employers' difficulties in finding workers, but still average 4.7 percent, a rate well above much of the rest of the country.
lesley@sltrib.com
