Manpower survey says manufacturing expected to see boost in hiring

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A Manpower survey released Tuesday, March 12th named Wisconsin one of the best states to find a career with growth -- particularly in the Milwaukee area.

The jobs report was encouraging for Lawrence Heyn, who was excited to hear manufacturing is one of the few industries expected to see a boost in hiring. It is one of several trades named in the Manpower Group Employment Outlook Survey.

Jorge Perez is the Senior Vice President of Manpower. The organization asks companies about their hiring intentions. The latest survey found companies intend to hire.

"It`s going to be in construction, transportation and logistics, so those are some of the industries are going up. Second quarter of 2013 has a positive trend across the U.S. 11% of the companies net number based on the survey they say they will increase their workforce in the next three months," Perez said.

Perez says the numbers are much better than the first quarter and second quarter of last year, which hopefully means a steady upswing since the recession.

"Against the nation number the hiring intentions are 18% for the state of Wisconsin and same for the city of Milwaukee which are pretty positive," Perez said.

The challenge may be finding the right talent for the openings. Kathleen Hohl says that's where Milwaukee Area Technical College comes in.

"One of the most important things we do is work with representatives of manufacturing and construction companies in the area to learn what careers are going to have openings so we can appropriately educate and train our students so they are job ready when they graduate from MATC," Hohl said.

The students learn manufacturing skills, combined with the latest skills in technology.

The poll of 18,000 employers was done before sequestration took effect. Perez believes the upward trend will continue, but of course, he's not sure how sequestration will have an impact.

That will be reflected in the third quarter report, which comes out in June.