April hiring expectations for the manufacturing and service sectors are down year-over-year, according to the leading indicator of national employment index (LINE) report from the Society for Human Resource Management and Rutgers University.

The index's survey found that 51.5% of manufacturers plan to add staff in April while 12.5% plan to cut for a net increase of 39.0%. That's lower than the 49.7% net increase in April 2007.

In the service sector, companies project a net employment increase of 35.2% in April. That's down from the net increase projected for April 2007 of 47.8%.

Compensation for new hires, however, rose in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturers reported a net increase in new-hire compensation of 8.7% in March, up from 5.5% in March 2007. In the service sector, the number of companies reporting increases in new-hire compensation fell to a net increase of 4.8% compared with a net increase of 7.4% a year ago.

The LINE report surveys human resources executives are more than 500 manufacturing and more than 500 service-sector firms.