Half of the Tulsa area employers answering a survey plan to add jobs in the first quarter, Manpower says.
The Tulsa area job market should be among the strongest in the nation during the first quarter of 2007, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
From January to March, 50 percent of companies interviewed plan to hire employees, while only 3 percent expect to cut their payrolls, according to the survey.
An additional 37 percent expect no change to their current staff levels, and the other 10 percent are uncertain of their hiring plans.
Among survey participants, the Tulsa area employment outlook is the seventh-best in the nation heading into the new year. That ranking is based on the spread between the percentage of employers who plan to increase payrolls and those who plan to decrease, which in this case equals 47 percent.
"Employers are significantly more optimistic about hiring than they were a year ago when 31 percent of companies surveyed thought job gains were likely and 10 percent intended to cut back," Beyer said.
Economists have noted how a slowdown at the the national level will contribute to a slowdown in Oklahoma and Tulsa next year. Even with slowing growth, however, Oklahoma is expected to add jobs next year.
Metropolitan Tulsa is forecast to lead the state in job growth next year by adding 7,000 jobs for a 1.7 percent gain, according to some economists. | 
