According to a new survey, US employers will continue to recruit people in eth first quarter of 2013 amid continuing concerns over the issue of fiscal cliff.

The survey conducted by ManpowerGroup showed that a majority of the US companies are not expected to alter their payrolls during the first quarter of 2013. Jonas Prising, president of ManpowerGroup indicated that about 17 per cent of the companies are planning to hire new employees while 8 per cent said that they are considering laying-off some staff.

"If you think about the 'fiscal cliff' and you're an employer, you're only going to hire what you need to hire," he said. There are concerns over the implications of the fiscal cliff that will result in automatic spending cuts and tax hikes in the US economy if the President and the lawmakers are not able to sort out their disagreements and agree upon a plan to raise the debt limit.

If the there is not agreement to resolve the situation, a series of spending cuts and tax hikes will automatically take affect from 2, January, 2013. Republicans in the US congress are opposing tax hikes for highest earners and are proposing increasing tax revenue without raising tax rates by limiting tax deductions and closing loopholes.

Figures show that the U. S. net employment outlook was plus-12 for the first quarter of 2013 compared to plus-11 in the fourth quarter and plus-9 during the first quarter of 2012 even as there are serious concerns over the fiscal cliff.