[News] Survey shows hiring optimism among plastics companies

By PlasticsToday Staff
Published: July 2nd, 2010

The number of plastics companies likely to add employees in a new survey showed a marked improvement over last year. The Spring 2010 survey by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and Gros Executive Recruiters found that 47.6% of companies polled said they were likely to add employees this year, compared to 18.3% in last year's survey. In other findings, the survey reported that 51% of respondents expect raises on the order of 1-3% this year, with some 56.4% of managers concurring with that range. The number of employees who reported they are somewhat to actively interested in finding a new job within the next 12 months was down sharply to 43%, compared to 62% in 2007. The average of total cash compensation was $105,825 for the calendar year 2009, up from $103,482 in 2008. The report's available to SPE members or by contacting George Shaw.

The optimism of that survey, released at the end of June, was in sharp contrast to June's employment report, published by the U.S. Department of Labor on July 2. That report showed that overall employment fell by 125,000 in June, with a large impact from diminishing temporary census jobs. After rising more than 400,000 in May, those temporary census jobs fell by 225,000 last month. Setting aside government employment, June's private sector employment figures show U.S. companies hired 32,000 in May and 83,000 in June.

Within manufacturing, companies increased employment for a sixth consecutive month in June, adding 9000 for the month and a total of 136,000 jobs through the first half of 2010. That accounts for nearly a quarter of private sector job growth so far this year, with the sector adding the most jobs it has in a six-month period in a dozen years. The bad news, according to National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Chief Economist Dave Huether, was that the gain of 9000 in June was the smallest increase so far this year and not very wide-spread.

Commenting on the report, Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) Executive Director Scott Paul, said in a release, "Unless Congress and the Administration take aggressive steps to spur job creation, particularly in manufacturing, the recession will linger in communities all over the nation, and that's bad news for lawmakers who are facing the voters in November."