Talent management firm Manpower says 27 percent of employers surveyed in Raleigh-Cary plan to boost hiring in third quarter.

Only one percent are planning cuts.

The plus-26 percent Net Employment Outlook ranks the capital city area market as third best in the country, Manpower said in its report issued Tuesday.

Unemployment across the Triangle was 7.5 percent in April and 7.4 percent in Raleigh-Cary.

The Manpower survey does not break out the Durham-Chapel Hill market separately.

Manpower describes the hiring mood as “bullish.”

The survey covers the July to September time frame.

Information technology, financial services and professional and business services outlook for hiring is good along with construction, durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities along with wholesale and retail trade, education and health, leisure and hospitality, other services and government. 

A new survey from the Duke-CFO Magazine also was strong on hiring, but a report from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants were not as strong for hiring across the U.S. A survey from PNC Bank also projected good growth in the Triangle.

“The employment forecast for the third quarter is significantly healthier compared to the second quarter of 2012 when the Net Employment Outlook was 14 percent,” said Manpower spokesperson Michael Doyle. “Employers expect much improved employment prospects compared with one year ago when the Net Employment Outlook was 2 percent.”

Across North Carolina, hiring is expected to be “solid” with 22 percent of companies planning to hire and three percent expecting to make cuts. The state’s not seasonally adjusted jobless rate in April was 9.1 percent.

Nationally, Manpower expects a net 11 percent increase in hiring. That’s the highest reading in four years and is up 1 percentage point from the previous quarter. It also is 3 points higher than a year ago.

Company plans to hire improved in the 13 categories Manpower includes in the survey, but total hiring numbers range from “moderate” to “slight:”

  • Leisure & Hospitality (+30%)
  • Professional & Business Services (+20%)
  • Wholesale & Retail Trade (+19%)
  • Mining (+17%)
  • Durable Goods Manufacturing (+15%)
  • Transportation & Utilities (+14%)
  • Financial Activities (+14%)
  • Nondurable Goods Manufacturing (+13%)
  • Construction (+12%)
  • Information (+12%)
  • Other Services (+10%)
  • Government (+7%)
  • Education & Health Services (+6%).

For the first time since 2008, employers held positive outlooks on hiring in consecutive quarters in all four regions of the country and in all industries. The figures may ease concern that the job market is faltering after Labor Department data showed employment rose in May at the slowest pace in a year.

“We’ve been climbing out of this slowly,” Manpower Chief Executive Officer Jeff Joerres said in an interview. “It’s nothing fantastic, but it’s a hand-over-hand rappelling up the hill.”

Job growth puts Americans in a better position to increase spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. A tepid recovery, the slowdown in Europe and U.S. policy concerns related to taxes and health care may be making some companies reluctant to hire.

“Companies are quick to adjust,” Joerres said. “If there are some heavy clouds building on the horizon, you’ll see the numbers slow down.”

The economy added 69,000 jobs in May, less than the most- pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate, which rose to 8.2 percent, has held above 8 percent for 40 months, the longest stretch of such elevated levels in the post-World War II era.

In today’s Manpower report, 21 percent of the more than 18,000 companies surveyed said they planned to increase staff levels in the next three months. Six percent said they expected to reduce payrolls.

Leisure and hospitality companies were the most optimistic among the 13 industries polled, while those located in the Midwest and South were more upbeat.

The Manpower survey is conducted quarterly and has a margin of error for U.S. data of 0.6 percent.

(Bloomberg news contributed to this report.)