The latest Manpower Employment Outlook survey shows 17 percent of Minnesota employers plan to increase their workforce in the final three months of 2012, Finance & Commerce reports. Twenty percent of employers in the Twin Cities plan to hire in the fourth quarter.

A new employment survey out Monday has some good news. Fifteen percent of 140 companies surveyed said they plan to hire more workers next year. That's up from about 12 percent earlier. Eight percent of employers surveyed said they plan to trim their workforce.

Minnesota is about even with the nation when it comes builders expecting to hire in the next few months. Milwaukee-based Manpower reports 17 percent of the state's construction employers plan to take on workers in the second quarter of the year.

Minneapolis-based Target plans to hire 80,000 to 90,000 temporary employees nationwide for the Christmas shopping season, Fox Business reports. That is slightly fewer than last year, but Target notes 30 percent of the seasonal workers it hired last year stayed with the retailer permanently. Meanwhile, Wisconsin-based Kohl's plans to boost its temporary workforce by more than 10 percent from last year.

Finance and Commerce says a slim majority of Minnesota companies plan to hire new workers soon. The strongest demand is in information technology, where talented job-seekers are often fielding bids from multiple companies.