A fairly upbeat job market is anticipated in Iowa over the final three months of the year, according to a new survey released today (Tuesday). Manpower spokesperson Karen Miller says only four-percent of the employers surveyed in Iowa expect to decrease staffing levels between October and December. “We’ve got 20-percent of the companies we interviewed planning to hire more employees and 75-percent expect to maintain their current staff levels,” Miller said.

Those results are good for a “Net Employment Outlook” of 16-percent for the fourth quarter of 2014. That’s down slightly from 18-percent in the third quarter survey, but it compares very favorably to Q-4 one year ago. “Last year, we had a Net Employment Outlook of 11-percent,” Miller said. Iowa’s job market is looking better the nationwide outlook.

Of the more than 18,000 employers surveyed in the U.S., Manpower found 19-percent expect to add to their workforces, while 7-percent expect a decline in their payrolls between October and December.

(Radio Iowa)