The theme among many companies in the Quad Cities right now is stability. The latest Manpower survey shows an overwhelming majority, or 83 percent of companies surveyed, plan to maintain their current staff levels.

"They're telling us there is not going to be a lot of change in the second quarter. We're kind of riding it out and seeing what happens with the economy as we step into the middle of the year," Kim Saskowski of Manpower explained.

Stability is good news for those with jobs right now, but the unemployed are looking at another number. They want to know how many companies are looking to hire. According to Manpower, from April to June 10 percent of Q.C. companies say they'll be adding people.

"I wish it would be a higher number of companies looking for workers just because I'm unemployed," Richard Smock said looking at the latest survey results.

Something else the unemployed find frustrating is that the percentage of companies looking to hire has a downward trend. 19 percent of local companies were looking to increase staff at this time last year. That number went down to 14 percent last quarter and now we're at 10 percent.

Those at Manpower say companies need more confidence in the economy yet.

"They need to feel that they can add staff and have it be a good decision to bring people back on a permanent basis. The confidence in the economy is really what drives the hiring practices of employers," Saskowski said.

The latest outlook does have some good news when it comes to layoffs. Only seven percent of Q.C. companies expect to let people go in the next quarter. That's down from 10 percent at the same time last year.