US employers have strong hiring plans for the first quarter, according to ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook released today. The net employment outlook now stands at 29%, down 4% from last quarter and 12% year over year.

The net employment outlook is calculated by subtracting the percentage of employers who anticipate reductions in staff from those who plan to hire.

“This labor market continues to defy expectations with employers planning to add to their workforces across all key sectors for Q1,” said Becky Frankiewicz, ManpowerGroup chief commercial officer and North America president. “Those with tech skills will find themselves in particularly strong demand. The data does indicate some hiring slow-down in logistics and transport, yet we’re seeing employers being very intentional in where they pause hiring.”

ManpowerGroup surveyed 6,000 US employers for the report.

The report found that IT remains the strongest sector with a net employment outlook of 52%, despite headlines about tech hiring and layoffs. The weakest outlooks are predicted by employers in communication services (18%); goods and services (15%); and transport, logistics and automotive (5%).

At the regional level, the strongest hiring intentions for next quarter are in the Northeast, with a net employment outlook of 50%.

Compared with the previous quarter, hiring intentions declined in all regions except the Northeast. Meanwhile, all regions expect a decrease in hiring compared to last year.

Globally, the strongest hiring intentions among organizations are reported in Panama (39%), Costa Rica (35%) and Canada (34%), while the weakest are in Hungary (-8%), Poland (-2%) and the Czech Republic (1%).