HispanicBusiness

The Mexican division of U.S. employment services firm Manpower said Tuesday it expected favorable economic conditions and a positive employment outlook to generate between 700,000 and 720,000 jobs in Mexico by the end of 2012.

At a press conference here, Manpower's Regional Director Monica Flores cited the company's latest Employment Expectations Survey for the fourth quarter of 2012 which indicated 24 percent of employers surveyed in Mexico were inclined to expand their workforce.

Flores said the percentage was one of the highest registered in recent surveys.

According to the same poll, only 7 percent of employers in Mexico expressed their intention to reduce their workforce.

While noting boasting that the employment outlook in Mexico was one of the most stable in the world, Flores admitted the number of new jobs generated fell short of demand, adding the country needs to generate 1.2 million jobs each year to satisfy the needs of young Mexicans joining the job market for the first time.

She said a new labor reform initiative currently being debated by Mexican legislators was a positive step, because "the initiative will promote the creation of formal jobs." Many Mexicans make their living in the informal underground economy.

In the country's more industrialized northeast, only 2 percent of companies surveyed said they planned to increase their workforce in the final quarter of this year, said Mayra Hinojosa, Manpower's regional manager in Monterrey, capital of Mexico's northeastern state of Nuevo Leon.