Little more than a week after encouraging news on the Sacramento job front, local employers are expressing renewed concerns about hiring fueled by fluctuating gasoline prices and the ongoing state budget fight, according to a survey released today by employment firm Pacific Staffing.

Regional unemployment dipped below 12 percent, according to state employment figures, but nearly a third of employers surveyed – 32 percent – said they planned no hiring during the summer quarter.

The employers who are hiring are filling positions lost to attrition.

Nearly 70 percent of businesses surveyed said they will hire in the third quarter, but nearly half of those said the hires would backfill open positions.

"There's a lot of hiring (planned), but they're replacements," said local market analyst Rick Reed, who prepares the quarterly survey.

Meanwhile, employers hiring for growth dropped seven percentage points to 25 percent from the second quarter, according to the survey.

In the second quarter, a third of local employers surveyed said they planned to hire for growth.

The survey results point to companies' continued unease over the still-struggling Sacramento economy.

Add other burdens such as fuel costs and local hiring continues to move in fits and starts, Reed said.

"As soon as it gets going, something jams on the brakes," Reed said. "Sacramento continues to improve, but not at a rapid pace. The road is still full of gulleys and ruts."

Social network use grows

Nearly half of Californians use social networking sites to look for information about jobs, according to a new survey on information technology from the Public Policy Institute of California.

About 49 percent of Californians are using the sites to seek out employment information. That is about the same amount as in 2008, the PPIC reported in the survey released Wednesday.

Social networking overall has soared among Californians the last three years, however, with more than half – 52 percent – using a social networking site.

That represents a 26 percent increase from 2008.

A majority of Californians – more than six in 10 – use the sites to get news on current events; shop for goods and services; get health and medical information; or get news about their communities.

Meanwhile, 45 percent use the sites for educational purposes.

Find the survey at www.ppic.org.

Life coach to speak

Business and life skills coach Pat Gayman will speak Tuesday at the weekly meeting of Sacramento Professional Network.

Gayman will offer advice and tips in her talk, "Staying Up in Down Times."

The networking group meets 9:30 a.m. at Center for Employment and Training, 6853 65th St., Sacramento.

For more information about Sacramento Professional Network, visit www.sacpronet.com.

Job-hunting questions?

Ask Terri Carpenter, one of our "Ask the Experts" writers, who can answer your career questions online.

A jobs expert at the Sacramento Employment & Training Agency, Carpenter has expertise in résumé writing, job-skills training and career counseling.

To post your question or to view her advice to other job seekers, go to www.sacbee.com/ask.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

---

Call The Bee's Darrell Smith, (916) 321-1040.

• Read more articles by Darrell Smith