Manpower sees tough labor markets through 2010

By Nichola Groom

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Job losses will mount worldwide for nearly two years, led by the United States, although North America will also see the fastest jobs recovery, a senior executive at staffing company Manpower Inc (MAN.N) said on Wednesday.

"The trend is still increasing unemployment, for sure," David Arkless, president of corporate and government affairs, told Reuters at the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

"Don't get bets up for a major improvement until the end of next year," he said.

"I expect to see the deepest, hardest, toughest layoffs in the U.S., but I expect to see the fastest recovery in North America."

By late 2009, the proposed $825 billion U.S. economic stimulus plan should start to kick in, improving labor market conditions there, he said.

Arkless and Mara Swan, Manpower's head of global strategy and talent, said they would not be surprised to see the U.S. government introduce another stimulus package aimed squarely at job creation and training later this year.

"If our unemployment gets up to over 10 percent and the stimulus package doesn't start creating jobs at the same time, there is going to be a lot of pressure to do something to create jobs," Swan said.

In the United Kingdom, Manpower foresees two to three years of tough labor market conditions.

A key challenge for governments will be training workers to perform jobs in the construction and healthcare industries that require highly skilled workers, Manpower said.

Two relative bright spots for Manpower are China and India, whose economies are still growing, Arkless said.

Those nations, however, will not be able to grow fast enough to support the number of people who will need jobs.

China needs to grow its economy at about 10 percent to absorb the new entrants into its work force, while India has to grow at 15 percent to keep its people employed.

"The growth is good, but it's not good enough," Swan said.

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(Reporting by Nichola Groom; editing by Simon Jessop)