Hiring in the U.S. manufacturing sector is expected to increase on a year-over-year basis in April, according to the leading indicators of national employment report released today by the Society for Human Resource Management. However, hiring in the service sector will decrease.

“Recruiting difficulty for both sectors rose in March,” Jennifer Schramm, manager of workforce trends at SHRM, said in a press release. “This is in line with other recent SHRM research, which shows that companies are having trouble filling skilled positions.”

“Additionally, job vacancies for salaried and hourly job openings in March fell for the second consecutive month in both sectors compared with a year ago,” Schramm said.

The report’s survey found that 50.5 percent of manufacturing companies plan to hire in April while 3.7 percent plan to reduce their workforces for a net increase of 46.8 percent, up from a net increase of 37.8 percent in April 2013.

Among service-sector employers, 44.1 percent plan to add staff in April and 8.8 percent plan to cut their workforces for a net increase of 35.3 percent, down from a net increase of 41.8 percent in April 2013.

The report is based on a survey of human resource executives at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector firms.