Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel (01/01/2012) Schmid, John

In a recent survey by the QPS Employment Group—a staffing and recruiting firm based in Brookfield, Wis.—41% of companies polled plan to add hires in the first quarter of 2012, up from 39% in the final quarter of 2011. The survey presents a January-March outlook of the state’s major industries. “In comparison to the fourth quarter of 2011, employers are slightly more optimistic when it comes to business conditions and hiring trends,” QPS says in its analysis of its data.

The survey is considered a bellwether because it offers a measure of industrial sentiment in an industrial region, and because the firm specializes in industrial and manufacturing trades. Nearly all of the 184 employers that it surveyed are from Wisconsin manufacturers, with a few from Illinois.