(The following story by Randolph Heaster appeared on the Kansas City Star website on June 15, 2010.)
Job prospects are getting better nationwide, but the improvement in the hiring picture continues at a snail’s pace.
The modest improvement shown through the first half of the year will carry over into the third quarter, according to a recent survey of nearly 225 employers by BNA Inc.
According to the private firm, 22 percent of surveyed businesses said they would add production and service positions in the third quarter, up from 15 percent in the second quarter and 14 percent in the same period last year. The rise in planned hires was broad-based, affecting manufacturers and non-manufacturers.
The percentage of employers expecting to add technical and service jobs in the third quarter reached 27 percent, up from 22 percent in the second quarter and 19 percent from the 2009 third quarter.
Job-seekers with office and clerical skills may have a more difficult time finding work. Only 11 percent of companies expected to add those jobs, only slightly better than 9 percent in the second quarter and 8 percent during the same time last year. Inversely, fewer employers were planning to reduce their work forces in the third quarter. Just 8 percent of surveyed firms intended to cut production or service employees, compared with 10 percent in the second quarter and 12 percent in the same period last year.
The survey also showed that 22 percent of employers have on furlough production or service workers in the second quarter, virtually unchanged from 20 percent in the first quarter but down 5 percent from the same time last year.
BNA, which has been conducting its employment outlook survey since 1974, noted that “while reports of current layoffs and planned reductions-in-force are down from levels reported a year ago, there has been little change in these figures over the past two years.”
On the rails
The trends noted by BNA are certainly reflected in the railroad industry, with strong levels of recalls.
BNSF Railway, which has the most rail employees in the area, had about 170 transportation and mechanical employees furloughed as late as January. All those workers have been gradually called back through the first half of the year, said Andy Williams, a BNSF spokesman at its Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters.
BNSF has about 2,200 employees in the Kansas City area.
Union Pacific Railroad does not break out its employment levels by geographic areas. However, at the peak of the recession, more than 5,000 employees were on furlough, said Mark Davis, a railroad spokesman at its Omaha headquarters. Currently, about 3,000 workers at Union Pacific remained furloughed.
Kansas City Southern Railway has recalled all its train and engine employees, although only 20 were furloughed earlier in Kansas City, said spokeswoman Doniele Kane. The carrier has resumed hiring conductors, she added, but not at its Kansas City operations.