Businesses will create fewer jobs in the third quarter, and workers will seek new employment opportunities in fear of layoffs, according to a Harris Interactive survey of management and labor.

“It’s a slower job market, but we’re not seeing aggressive declines in employment levels reminiscent of 2001,” Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com, said today in a news release.

CareerBuilder.com and USA Today commissioned the survey, which was conducted May 22 through June 13, of 2,922 hiring managers and human resources professionals and 7,960 workers in private-sector companies.

In the Midwest, plans to add full-time professional staff were lower and plans to jettison staff were higher than in other regions of the country. Employers in the South and West had the most optimistic outlook on hiring.

Nationally, “Nearly one in four employers plan to add full-time permanent employees in the third quarter, a marginal decrease from the second quarter,” the report said. “The hiring environment is keeping with the status quo: cautious, but still competitive in select, in-demand industries.”

The survey reported these trends:

• Employers are holding on to “C” employees. Despite losing an average of 65,000 jobs per month from January through May, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, stiff competition for new talent continues. Thirty-five percent of employers reported they have open positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates. Twenty-nine percent admitted they are retaining workers whom they normally would not, due to the lack of available talent.

• Employers are leveraging the softer job market to strengthen staffs. On the other hand, some employers are taking advantage of a slower hiring pace to enhance their own talent pool. Twenty-six percent of hiring managers said they are using this time to replace lower-performing employees with new, better talent.

• More workers are becoming passive job seekers. Twenty-four percent of workers said they are fearful of layoffs at their firms. The desire to find greener pastures with another employer that can offer better compensation and career advancement and more stability is driving consideration of new opportunities. Nearly one in five workers said that they are actively looking for a new job. Among those not actively looking for a job, 83 percent said they would be open to a new one if they came across the right opportunity — a significant jump from 55 percent in 2006.