Fewer Sacramento area companies say they plan to hire in the next couple of months.

In a recent telephone survey of the region's top employers, 65 percent said they plan to add workers in the first-quarter of 2018. That's down from 70 percent in the previous quarter.

Rick Reed polled the companies for the placement firm Pacific Staffing. He says the first-quarter is normally a slow time of year.

Reed also says there's a growing rivalry between Sacramento and the Bay Area for skilled workers.

"Some San Francisco Bay Area firms now see Sacramento as an integral part of the larger marketplace in Northern California,” says Reed. “So there is pressure on Sacramento area employers to try to match or meet those to keep the skills they have and not lose them to other competitors who come to them from a higher-wage market.

"About 43 percent of hiring is attributed to both expansion, for new people, which is growth, and of course attrition for replacements in the existing workforce,” says Reed. “So about an even split in the next three months."

He says not a single Sacramento company he polled is projecting any layoffs between now and March.

Reed says companies told him that there's a shortage of qualified applicants in: construction trades, equipment operators, and licensed delivery drivers. Among the companies polled: 24 percent are manufacturers; 16 percent are construction; 12 percent are retail; and 48 percent are service.

Meanwhile, the most recent jobs numbers show the Sacramento area unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in November, down from 4.1 percent in October.

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