MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — West Central Ohio employers expect to hire at a slower pace during 2017’s fourth quarter, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey.

Among employers surveyed, 20 percent plan to hire more employees from October through December. This number is offset by the 6 percent that plan to reduce payrolls, while 72 percent of employers expect to maintain current staff levels and 2 percent indicate they are not sure of their hiring plans. This yields a net employment outlook of 14 percent. The net employment outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting a decrease in hiring activity.

“Local employers anticipate a weaker hiring pace compared to Quarter 3, 2017, when the net employment outlook was 24 percent,” said ManpowerGroup spokesperson Joanie Krein. “Last year at this time, employers expected more hiring activity when the outlook was 18 percent.”

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in durable goods manufacturing, nondurable goods manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, information, financial activities, professional and business services, other services and government. Employers in construction and transportation and utilities plan to reduce staffing levels, while hiring in education and health services and leisure and hospitality is expected to remain unchanged.

Of the more than 11,500 employers surveyed in the United States, 21 percent expect to add to their workforces, and 6 percent expect a decline in their payrolls during Quarter 4 2017. Seventy-one percent of employers anticipate making no change to staff levels, and the remaining 2 percent of employers are undecided about their hiring plans. When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the net employment outlook is 17 percent, unchanged compared to the Quarter 3 2017 outlook.