The latest Manpower Employment Outlook survey found that Canadian hiring prospects for the third quarter are slightly less positive than a year ago.
The survey was based on interviews with more than 1,900 employers in Canada.
It found that 21 per cent of respondents expected to add employees in the July-September quarter, down two percentage points from the survey covering the third quarter of 2012.
In both years, most employers expected no change.
In the case of Red Deer-area employers, 29 per cent of survey respondents said they plan to hire for the July-to-September quarter, while seven per cent anticipated cutbacks.
Fifty-seven per cent planned to maintain their current staffing levels and seven per cent were unsure of their hiring intentions.
Manpower’s seasonally adjusted measure for Canada declined to nine per cent — a drop of three percentage points from a year ago and from the previous quarter.
For Red Deer, the seasonally adjusted figure was 19 per cent, a drop of 10 percentage points from the outlook reported for the same period last year and four percentage points from the previous quarterly outlook.
Nationally, the transportation and public utilities sector showed the most positive hiring outlook and manufacturers showed the least positive hiring intentions.
The seasonally adjusted rating for 10 sectors were: construction, 15 per cent; education, 9; finance, insurance and real estate, 7; manufacturing (durables), 5; manufacturing (non-durables), 5; mining, 12; public administration, 13; services, 11; transportation and public utilities, 23; wholesale and retail trade, 8.