BEIJING - Chinese employers forecast a solid hiring environment in the third quarter with nearly 30 percent of employers planning to increase their work force and more than half intending to keep their payrolls unchanged, according to a survey by the global employment service provider Manpower Inc.

Manpower interviewed some 4,000 companies on the Chinese mainland to measure employers' intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees between July and September 2011.

The results, due to be published on Tuesday, showed that 28 percent of those surveyed expect to increase hiring, while 54 percent of employers said they will hold on to the staff they have in the third quarter

The number of employers who expect to reduce their head counts in the upcoming quarter stands at 9 percent, according to the survey.

"After the brisk activity seen in the first half of this year, Chinese employers are still hiring, but considerably more slowly than a year ago," said Yuan Jianhua, managing director of Manpower China.

"However, the outlook indicates that job seekers will still be able to take advantage of a solid job market - assuming they have the skills employers are looking for," he said.

Job seekers are likely to find most opportunities in the next three months in the transportation and utilities sectors and in the country's second-tier cities, according to the survey.

Adjusted to remove seasonal variations, the Net Employment Outlook - the difference between the percentage of employers anticipating employment to increase and those who expect to see a decrease in employment - stands at 33 percent for the transportation and utilities sectors, leading other industry sectors for two consecutive quarters.

Jennifer Feng, chief human resources expert at 51job Inc, said that the transportation sector showed the strongest job prospects partly because of the country's burgeoning e-commerce business.

"Despite the prolonged slump in trade globally, China's e-commerce business continued to develop at a rapid pace, so there must be more job vacancies in the transportation and logistics industry," said Feng.

Yuan at Manpower said the enthusiasm among employers in the transportation and utilities sectors may be fueled by the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway project and government investment in subway construction.

"Job seekers are likely to benefit from continuing opportunities in the transportation and utilities sectors," Yuan said.

China Daily