Manpower Inc., in its quarterly survey of employers, said that 7 percent of the Hawai'i companies responding plan to increase their staff in July, August and September. Most employers in the state, 86 percent, said they will stay at current levels during that time.

A positive sign was that no employers said they plan to trim staff, though 7 percent said their plans are uncertain. That's an improvement over the survey last quarter, when 7 percent said they would be cutting workers.

"Three months ago employers expressed uncertainty," said Doris Hannaford of Manpower's Hawai'i office. She also noted that a year ago more employers were planning to cut jobs. At that point, 7 percent said they would reduce their staff and 3 percent said they would be increasing staff.

The unemployment rate in Hawai'i was 4.3 percent in March, the most recent figures available. That was a 0.4 percentage point improvement from the 4.7 percent rate in February in Hawai'i and better than the national March unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.

The Manpower survey forecasts an improvement in hiring nationwide. Twenty-seven percent of the U.S. companies surveyed said they plan to add jobs in July through September, while 8 percent said they anticipated cutting staff.

The rest of the companies said they either expected to maintain their staffing levels or were uncertain about hiring activities.

Manpower surveys 16,000 firms nationwide.

"The trend has definitely turned," said Jeffrey Joerres, chairman and chief executive of Manpower.

The third-quarter results are nearly identical to the findings from the same period last year but still are not back to normal employment levels, Joerres said.