Sep. 9--The local economy is showing signs of life, but most employers aren't ready to begin hiring, according to a new survey of businesses and a new forecast.

Manpower Inc. said 8 percent of central Ohio companies surveyed plan to hire more employees in this year's fourth quarter, while 9 percent plan to reduce their payrolls. The rest either plan to maintain their staffing levels or are not sure.

The national survey showed that 12 percent of companies plan to hire more employees, while 14 percent plan to cut.

One local employer, Jeff Rains of Breads of the World, plans to stick with his staffing level. His company operates Panera Bread franchises in Ohio and Colorado and has about 3,000 employees.

"We're not opening any new restaurants, but we also haven't laid anybody off," he said.

Manpower, a Milwaukee-based temporary-services provider, said the sectors with the greatest potential for growth locally are leisure and hospitality, government and durable-goods manufacturing.

PNC Financial Services projects that the central Ohio region will not return to net job growth until the second quarter of next year, according to a forecast issued last week.

Although that might seem like a long wait, it is better than in most of the rest of the Midwest, said Craig Thomas, senior economist for PNC Financial.

"Columbus is actually leading the way a bit, because it is strong in education, health care and other sectors that have been performing well," he said.

His report shows that the local job market is bottoming out in the third quarter, the sixth consecutive quarter with a net loss of jobs.

The economy has entered a period in which there is "room for expansion" of the job market, but the expansion has not occurred, said Mark Schweitzer, director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

"The initial response to that is to use the employees you have and the equipment you have," he said.

Manpower's national survey showed the weakest job market since the survey began 45 years ago.

"Job-seekers will still have limited opportunities, as our data shows the world's labor markets will not experience recovery in the fourth quarter," Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower's chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

dgearino@dispatch.com

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