Hiring will be flat among Providence-area employers in the third quarter, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released yesterday.

From July to September, 17 percent of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 17 percent expect to reduce their payrolls, according to Manpower spokesperson Scott Shelley. Another 53 percent expect to maintain their current staff levels, and 13 percent are not certain of their hiring plans.

“Providence-area employers have stronger hiring intentions than in the second quarter when 13 percent of the companies interviewed intended to hire additional employees, and 23 percent planned to reduce staff levels,” said Shelley. “Employers are less confident about hiring than they were a year ago when 20 percent of companies surveyed planned to add staff and 7 percent anticipated a reduction in payrolls.”

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in transportation/public utilities. Employers in non-durable goods manufacturing plan to reduce staffing levels, while those in durable goods manufacturing, wholesale/retail trade and services voice mixed hiring intentions. Hiring in all other sectors is expected to remain unchanged.

Nationally, the third-quarter hiring pace is expected to remain unchanged from the April-to-June period, according to the seasonally adjusted survey results. The stability comes after three consecutive quarters of slight declines in employer-confidence levels.

Among the 14,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 29 percent foresee an increase in hiring activity, and 7 percent expect a decline in staffing levels during the third quarter. Fifty-eight percent anticipate no change in the hiring pace, while 6 percent are undecided about their July-to-September hiring plans.