There’s more to look forward to this summer than just beach trips, baseball games and US Weekly’s annual “Best and Worst Celebrity Beach Bods” issue…

In a positive sign for the economy, seasonal hiring is expected to increase over the summer months, according to CareerBuilder’s annual Summer Job Forecast.

Of the more than 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals who participated in the survey, three in ten (29 percent) plan to hire workers for the summer, up from 21 percent in 2011 and an average of 22 percent over the past four years.

The busier summer hiring season is likely due to a combination of stronger-than-expected growth in the manufacturing sector and increased consumer confidence. Employers in the following industries are expected to lead seasonal hiring:

• Manufacturing: 45 percent [plan to add summer workers]
• Hospitality: 44 percent
• Retail: 34 percent
• Finance: 31 percent

Beyond these industries, customer service, office support, information technology, research, engineering and sales will also be hiring hotspots.

“Confidence is up among the employers we most closely associate with summer hiring,” said Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America, in a statement for the press release. “The forecast is a strong indicator that the job market will continue to strengthen as we come closer to the second half of 2012.”

What’s Hot This Summer: Three Workforce Trends
The survey also indicated the following trends among employer behavior this summer.

• Full-time work potential: 71 percent of employers hiring this summer said they’ll be considering some hires for permanent positions. In fact, 39 percent of employers said they’re less likely to hire someone who isn’t interested in working beyond summer.
• Increased pay: A majority (64 percent) of employers will pay their summer hires $10 or more per hour – up from 58 percent last year.
• Late-in-season hiring: While 42 percent of employers report that they typically complete their summer hiring by April, 38 percent complete it in May and 19 percent will hire in June and beyond.

Tell us: How do your hiring and compensation plans compare to the above findings?