Midwest employers say they’ll hire six to 11 percent more people in the first three months of 2013, according to a report from the Brookfield staffing firm of QPS. Chief operating officer Dan McNulty says employers are more optimistic about the future now than they were about three months ago.
QPS surveyed 420 companies in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas City. It found 40 percent planned to have more employees than they did in the final quarter of this year, nine percent planned layoffs, and 51 percent said there would be no change.
When asked about the biggest issues facing their companies, 55 percent said it was the economy and 44 percent cited a lack of qualified employees, referring to the so-called “skills gap” that Governor Walker says he plans to address in the next state budget by increasing funding for employee training programs.
