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More Chicago metropolitan area employers are planning to boost hiring in the first quarter next year, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which was the most optimistic for the area in two years.

Fourteen percent of respondents plan to add staff, up from 8 percent a year earlier. Ten percent plan to cut staff, down from 16 percent. The net employment outlook was growth of 4 percent, compared to a decline of 8 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

The report, to be released today, showed 72 percent of employers plan to maintain current staffing levels, mirroring the results of a year earlier. That represents “five consecutive quarters of stability, which is really a positive sign,” said Anne Edmunds, Manpower’s regional director in Chicago.

“There has been a big difference from 2010 first quarter to 2011 first quarter,” she said of the overall results. There isn’t enormous growth, but it’s not declining, so that is a positive thing.”

Among industries planning on adding more workers are durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, financial activities, leisure and hospitality and professional and business services.

Cuts are forecast in the construction industry and non-durable goods manufacturing.

Nationally, the hiring expectations are the most optimistic they’ve been in more than two years:

*14 percent of employers expect to boost hiring, up from 12 percent a year earlier.

*10 percent plan to slash payrolls, down from 12 percent.

*In 11 of 13 industry sectors, more employers plan to boost hiring than those who plan to cut staff.

*Cuts are forecast in the mining and wholesale and retail trade industries.

“The fact that hiring expectations are trending upward is an encouraging sign,” Jonas Prising, Manpower president of the Americas, said in a statement. “This quarter’s survey responses paint a picture of a job market that is easing up, although not as quickly as anyone would like. We are still stuck in first gear, but the ongoing sector-wide improvement we have seen over the last year suggests that the labor market is ready to shift to a higher gear in 2011.”

-- Francine Knowles