US manufacturing and service sectors are expected to reach four-year highs for hiring rates in the month of April, according to the leading indicators of a national employment report released today by the Society for Human Resource Management. Hiring expectations in US manufacturing rose for the 13th straight month in April when compared with the same month in the previous year, and service-sector hiring expectations also increased.

The report’s survey found 59.8% of manufacturing companies plan to hire in April while 7.8% plan to reduce their workforces for a net increase of 52.0%, up from a net increase of 46.8% in April 2014.

Among service-sector companies, 53.8% plan to add staff in April and 8.7% plan to cut their workforces for a net increase of 45.1%, up from a net increase of 35.3% percent in April 2014.

Additionally, March marked the 11th consecutive month recruiting difficulty reached a four-year high for the month. A net of 24.8% of manufacturing respondents said they had more difficulty with recruiting in March, up from 12.2% in the same month in 2014. A net of 25.3% of service-sector organizations also reported difficulty, up from 20.0% in March of last year.

The survey also found many organizations are still keeping new-hire compensation flat, but the net total in services represented a four-year high for the month of March.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 7.3% of respondents reported raising new-hire compensation in March, up from 5.7% in March 2014. In the service sector, a net total of 17.9% of companies increased new-hire compensation in March, up from 6.4% in the same month a year ago.

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