There seems to be momentum building. The question is whether it's strong enough to carry through to the first and second quarter of 2004.

Employers are not going to break out of the recent hiring pattern. There will be no sudden explosion in hiring.

We were trying to keep people away from predicting 15-to-20-percent growth rates [in U.S. services] in the third quarter, when we came off a 7-percent growth rate in the second quarter, ... We're seeing good growth, good job creation that's still solid, but about the same as it was in the second quarter.

There's also the practicality that people are needed to do the work, but I'm not sure whether the third quarter gives us the proverbial hockey stick, ... What our guidance would tell you is we're not seeing that as going to happen in the third quarter.

U.S. employers are still void of the business confidence needed to increase their employment projections for the third quarter, ... Employers have expressed uncertainty in hiring intentions in recent Manpower Employment Outlook Surveys, but this quarter represents the weakest job outlook in 12 years.

Companies are as optimistic as they have been for the last five quarters over which we've seen job gains. Hiring intentions are holding at a high level.

When we talk to customers, they are talking about hiring more, they have plans to hire more, ... But they're still being cautious because of the amount of uncertainty surrounding ... interest rates, oil prices and conflicts overseas.

It is clear that demand for their products and services has finally surpassed the capacity and productivity of the current workforce.

The survey results combined with the drop in the unemployment rate indicate that the traditional labor supply is essentially exhausted.