Hiring outlook best in Portland, survey reveals

PORTLAND – More than one-fourth of the employers in Greater Portland expect to add jobs in the coming months, but the outlook is less positive in other parts of the state, according to a new survey.

Twenty-seven percent of companies surveyed in the Portland area by Manpower Inc., the temporary-staffing service, are expecting to hire more workers between October and December.

Only 10 percent of the firms surveyed in Bangor expect to add jobs in the final quarter. The figure is 19 percent in Lewiston and 14 percent in southern York County.

Nationally, 24 percent of the employers interviewed have plans to add jobs, while 9 percent said they would trim their payrolls. Sixty-two percent of the employers surveyed plan to maintain present staffing levels, and 5 percent said they have not made their plans final.

The survey, which historically has been a good indicator of employment trends, is based on telephone interviews with 16,000 public and private employers in 474 U.S. markets. In Maine, between 150 and 200 companies were surveyed.

The latest results paint a more favorable employment picture in the fourth quarter of 2002 than it did a year ago, when just 10 percent of Portland-area companies were anticipating adding workers.

In 2000, in the midst of the longest economic expansion in Maine’s history, 48 percent of companies surveyed in Greater Portland planned to add workers and only 7 percent said they would be cutting back.

New employment is envisioned in the transportation, public utilities, finance, real estate and insurance fields. Reductions are expected in public administration and, possibly, retail and manufacturing.

The results of the latest survey do not surprise those who track employment in Maine.

“What we’ve seen so far this year is very slow growth in jobs,” said Dana Evans, labor economist at the state Department of Labor. “It’s almost been a hold-even situation, but it’s going very slightly toward positive job growth.”

Between January and July, Evans said, Maine added 2,400 jobs and lost 1,400 – most of them in manufacturing – for an overall gain of about 1,000 positions.