SURVEY: `REVITALIZED JOB MARKET IS IN VIEW FOR THE AREA'

An upswing in hiring activity is anticipated this spring in Southeast Missouri.

That is the finding of the latest employment survey conducted by Manpower, Inc., for the second quarter of the year.

"A revitalized job market is in view for the area," said Barbara Larkins, manager of the Cape Girardeau office of Manpower, Inc., which released its quarterly Employment Outlook Survey this week.

"The spring months usually bring a period of hiring rejuvenation, a recovery from the mid-winter lull."

The latest survey indicates that 43 percent of area businesses questioned will expand their work force during April, May and June. Only three percent intend to reduce employment and 54 percent expect to make no adjustments.

"We talk with businesses in every category," said Larson. "Employers are expressing an optimism not seen over the past couple of years."

That optimism is also reflected at the local branch of Manpower, Inc., a temporary help firm.

"Business has picked up considerably," said Larkins. "We have had increased requests in a number of areas marketing, data processing and other categories."

For the coming quarter, job opportunities are forecast in construction, non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation/public utilities and wholesale/retail, education, services and public administration, with staff reductions expected in durable goods manufacturing.

The scene is similar nationally.

"Of more than 15,000 companies interviewed nationwide, 25 percent expect to increase employment over the next three months," said Larkins. "Only eight percent anticipate staff cutbacks, and 64 percent said they would remain at present levels."

Larkins added that business conditions appear to be especially favorable in the Midwest and South.

"For companies in the Midwest, the recession appears to be over, and employment plans resemble those of the late 1980s," said Larkins, adding that increased activity in both the Midwest and South was expected in durable and non-durable goods manufacturing and wholesale and retail trades.

"During the 16-year history of the survey, it has become a significant indicator of employment trends," said Larkins.

The quarterly survey is based on telephone interviews with more than 15,000 public and private employers in 468 U.S. cities, including Cape Girardeau. Manpower is the world's largest temporary help firm, annually providing employment to about 1.5 million people through more than 1,850 offices in 34 countries.

Office services account for more than half of the assignments in which its temporary work force is engaged.

Meanwhile, more than 34,100 people had jobs in Cape Girardeau County during January.

"With the work force at 35,834, that means 95.4 percent of the people were working," said Jackie Cecil, director of the Missouri Job Service office at Cape Girardeau. "That means an unemployment total of 4.6. This is up from the 3.7 reading of a month ago, but it's still a good figure."

During the final month of 1992, the Cape Girardeau County work force was 35,720, with 34,389 of them working, leaving 1,331 without jobs.

"January is usually a slow month," said Cecil. "This is the month when holiday season employees join the jobless roles. A year ago in January our unemployment was at 4.9 percent."

"We're still fortunate here," said Cecil. "We haven't had any big layoffs and we've had a good run of new retail businesses for the last five or six months."

Cape Girardeau County's unemployment rate of 4.6 percent is the lowest in Southeast Missouri. Perry County, with a 5.8 percent unemployment rate, is second on the list.

Missouri's unemployment rate for January was 6.7, up more than a percentage point from the 5.3 report of December.

Estimated total unemployment during January was 178,347, which is up more than 38,000 over the December figure of 140,033, noted Donna M. White, director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Statewide, a total of 2,469,399 Missourians were working in January, out of a work force of 2,647,746.

Although the state totals are up from December readings, they are still under the January totals from 1991, when 191,000 people were without jobs, leaving an unemployment rate of 7 percent.

The unemployment rate in Illinois improved a bit in January to 6.5 percent, but soared 1.4 percentage points in February, to 7.9 percent. The January rate was down from seven percent in December.

The January decline mirrored a trend among several of the nation's major industrial states. Unemployment declined in seven of the 11 states and was unchanged in another. The national unemployment rate for January was down to 7.1 percent, a slight improvement nationally. The national rate continued to drop in February, to 7.0, the lowest rate since November of 1991, when it was 6.9 percent.

"Temporary layoffs in the construction and manufacturing sectors, along with the post Christmas slump in trade, pushed unemployment rates up slightly from December 1992 to January 1993," said Charles M. "Mike" Vessell, labor market economist for the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

"There is a bright spot in the employment picture," added Vessell. "Several business are gearing up to provide tax services for the tax season."

Vessell added some first-quarter business closings in Jackson, Union and Williamson counties should be partially offset by the new jobs at Players International Casino/Restaurant complex at Metropolis and the staffing of the new state prison south of Mt. Vernon.

Two of the manufacturing closings Bunny Bread and a shoe factory were at Anna.

"The normal upswing of construction when the weather permits will be an added boost to employment," added Vessell.