Chippewa Valley Employers Expect Big Job Growth in 2nd Quarter of 2008
Four times per year, Manpower conducts surveys of employers all over the world. Manpower asks employers if they will be hiring workers, staying the same size, laying workers off, or if employers are not sure.
Of the 14,000 US employers contacted by Manpower, only 26 percent expect to add employees.
However, 46% of companies surveyed in the Chippewa Valley expect to increase their workforce between April and June 2008. Only 12% of employers in the Chippewa Valley expect to decrease the size of their workforces.
This represents the highest percentage of employers looking to add workers in the entire state of Wisconsin.
In the Twin Cities market, 36 percent of the employers contacted expect to add staff, but another 36 percent expect to cut their workforce.
Chippewa Valley employers are more optimistic about hiring activity as compared to one year ago, when 23 percent of companies surveyed planned to increase staffs.
Effect on Real Estate Market
A strong economy and a strong real estate market go hand in hand. When there are jobs available, demand for housing increases and thus prices of homes increase. The fact that so many employers in Eau Claire, Menomonie, and Chippewa Falls expect to hire more workers in the near future means that there will be more people moving to the Chippewa Valley. Newly-hired workers will eventually buy houses and have the effect of buoying the recent soft real estate market.
The stable employment base in the Chippewa Valley is one of the reasons the housing market is also stable. Eau Claire and surrounding communities have not seen huge appreciation from one year to the next, but that also means we have not seen a drop in home values either.
The full reports are located here:
