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Reports: Businesses Plan To Hire; Confidence Drops Slightly

More businesses in Boston plan to hire new workers in the first three months of next year.

A survey by Manpower Employment Outlook says 15 percent of area businesses plan to hire workers next quarter, while 6 percent say they plan to cut staff.

The group's regional director, Susan Fontana, says she expects numbers to stay positive.

"Certainly business is still volatile but we're seeing some really strong trends now, especially from the quarter before and certainly this quarter," Fontana said.

Indeed, overall business confidence in the state remains positive, but it's down slightly.

The business confidence index, by Associated Industries of Massachusetts, dropped about 3 percent in November after posting record improvement in October.

But AIM's Andre Mayer says the overall rating is still in positive territory.

"This is still a much better showing than we had seen in July, August and September," Mayer said.

Mayer said if the index stays at this level in December, it could signal economic growth for next year.

This program aired on December 7, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.

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