According to a monthly survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, recruiting difficulty and new-hire compensation continue to grow, and hiring in December among the manufacturing and service sectors are expected to drop as job cuts rise.

The survey, Leading Indicators of National Employment, shows that hiring expectations in the service sector for December are likely to fall by 9.4 points from last year, and a net of 21.8 percent of companies plan to add jobs during December 2011, compared to a net of 31.2 percent in 2010. Manufacturing sector hiring is projected to fall by 4.9 points on an annual basis from a net of 34 percent to a net of 29.1 percent from one year ago.

The LINE survey's recruiting-difficulty index reveals that a net of 13.5 percent of HR managers in the manufacturing sector say they are having more trouble with recruiting in November 2011, compared to 8.3 in November 2010, which amounts to a net increase of 5.2 points. Among the service sector, a net of 0.3 percent of respondents say recruiting for key positions is more difficult during November 2011, for a 2.7 point increase from November 2010.