Poll: Companies Not Planning On Seasonal Layoffs

A poll released Monday finds a drop in the number of Sacramento area companies planning to add to their workforces. 

The survey shows that 50 percent of the region's top employers anticipate hiring for expansion between July and October. That's down from 55 percent the previous quarter. However it is up from a year ago, by about 11 percent.

Rick Reed conducted the survey for Pacific Staffing. 

"What is interesting in this quarter is normally we would see some seasonal layoffs to begin and that's not happening," says Reed. "Not one single company noted any plans for layoffs."

Reed says about 30 percent of the Sacramento area companies polled say they are not hiring at all during the third-quarter. While half of the hiring in the next three months will be motivated by growth, the other half will be driven by "attrition," or replacements among the existing workforce.

Skills in-demand include: IT, manufacturing and customer service. 

"Companies are starting to say that they're finding they can't get enough qualified applicants particularly in sufficient numbers to meet their demands for information technology needs," says Reed. "They're also saying that drivers for route and delivery are in short supply."