The number of Canadian companies expecting to hire more workers slipped marginally in the fourth quarter, according to a new survey released Tuesday.

The Manpower Employment Survey, conducted as part of larger poll undertaken by Manpower Inc., noted that 21 per cent of Canadian firms surveyed said they planned to boost payrolls in the last three months of 2010.

The latest figure represented a slight drop from the third quarter of 2010, when 22 per cent of 1,900 employers expected to increase their workforce.

(The margin of error in the Canadian portion of Manpower's overall survey is plus or minus two per cent.)

Only seven per cent of employers said they planned to shave their payrolls in the period. But that actually represented a rise from six per cent in the third quarter.

"Employers are telling us that they plan to continue to increase their payrolls at a similar pace for the rest of the year," said Byrne Luft, Manpower Canada's vice-president of staffing operations.

Indeed, the vast majority of Canadian companies — 70 per cent — did not expect their staffing quota to change one way or the other.

Domestic boost

Canadian firms have enjoyed a strong domestic economy, which boosted sales during the past nine months, but face an American neighbour which might be sliding back into a recession, analysts said.

Even as Canada's employment situation holds steady into the fourth quarter, the picture is brighter than one year earlier.

The Manpower survey for the fourth quarter of 2009 indicated that only 15 per cent of employers planned to expand their payrolls versus 11 per cent of companies expecting to cut jobs.