BROCKVILLE – Nearly three quarters of Brockville business owners are planning to keep their staff levels pretty much the same until year’s end, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook survey.
Of the local businesses asked for the survey, 10 per cent plan to hire staff, 13 per cent are planning cutbacks, 73 per cent are keeping their staffing levels as is and four per cent were unsure.
The overall outlook is down from the previous quarter (down five per cent from July-September) and the final quarter of the year position is down seven per cent from the same period in 2014.
“It’s a conservative outlook…it may come back to market instability and sometimes depending on the breakdown of business within the communities. The top employers – the medium to large sized business – they’re expecting to do the bulk of the hiring,” spokeswoman Lisa MacInnis told Brockville Newswatch.
“If we’re looking at some communities with smaller businesses, particularly less than 10 people, they are looking at less than 10 per cent growth so that may have an impact on both the Brockville and Cornwall communities,” MacInnis said.
She believes a couple factors – the talk about a technical recession and a looming federal election – may also be playing into the results in the last quarter.
If you’re looking for a job, you’re best bets are the the wholesale and retail trade sectors and the transportation sector, said MacInnis.
The results are very similar to the Canadian average where 1,900 employers asked show just over three-quarters were keeping the status quo, 11 per cent were hiring, nine per cent planned to trim staff and three per cent were unsure.
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