Employment outlook bleak: A survey of nearly 32,000 employers finds that more than two-thirds don’t plan to hire workers during the second quarter. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey found that 14% of companies plan to decrease the number of workers in the second quarter, while 15% anticipate adding staffers. The only sectors that had anticipated hiring increases were in construction and leisure/hospitality, other sectors, including such traditionally stable employment fields as education and government look to reduce the number of staffers. Employers in the South, which had the strongest first quarter hiring outlook, now are anticipating the weakest pace in the second quarter.
On the Hill: Alan Levine, Louisiana’s health secretary, is in Washington, D.C., today to testify before a congressional subcommittee about ways to improve health care in the United States. Levine is set to speak to a subcommittee of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. Before coming to Louisiana, Levine worked as health secretary in Florida and had operated public and private hospitals and health systems. He’ll be speaking on a panel of national health care experts.
