Owatonna, MN—There’s bad news and not so bad news in a new study on employment in the direct marketing industry. According to the winter 2002 survey of 228 direct marketers taken during the week of Jan. 14 by Bernhart Associates ExecutiveSearch, the number of companies reporting hiring freezes is on the rise, but the number of participants planning further staff cutbacks has declined.
Whereas Bernhart’s fall survey taken in September showed that 11% of respondents were planning staff reductions, the winter study shows just 6% will cut staff. On the other hand, the portion of companies planning to add to staff has fallen during the same period from 54% to 51%, although an increasing portion of those new hires will be additional positions instead of replacements. The winter survey also showed that 38% of respondents have hiring freezes in effect, up from 31% in the fall and 20% last spring.