Manpower Survey hints at improving Denver job market

Manpower Inc., one of the nation's largest staffing firms has surveyed U.S. employers for 47 years to gauge the outlook for hiring. More than 18,000 employers across the country are surveyed on a quarterly basis. A brand new change to the survey is sharing state-level results, rather than just national data. I was curious to see what the survey was forecasting for Colorado, and specifically for the Denver area.

The forecast for the 3rd quarter shows employers anticipating more hiring than in the last several quarters although its still not a rosy picture:

For the Denver area 19% of employers indicate they will likely increase staffing in the 3rd quarter, 8% will be decreasing, and 68% will be maintaining their current staffing levels. On a national level the survey shows 18% increasing, 8% decreasing, and 70% not changing from their current staffing levels. So Denver is slightly better, but not by much. What is certainly encouraging is the change from prior quarters over the last two years.

For Colorado statewide, the survey results show 20% of employers will be increasing their hiring, 9% decreasing, and 65% maintaining current staffing.

People inside and outside of Pinnacol are always asking me when Pinnacol's hiring activities will return to more normal levels. As a workers' compensation insurance company our revenues and workloads are tied directly to the staffing levels of our insured policyholders. As the Colorado businesses we insure start adding employees to their payrolls we get busier and in turn start to add staff. When I see data such as that reflected in Manpower's and other surveys I'm encouraged and cautiously optimistic. We're not out of the woods yet - when only 1 in 5 employers is looking to add staff that's not a very robust economic situation - but the outlook does appear to be improving. If you'd like to see the full Manpower report its available at Manpower Survey.