Google ramps up hiring amid recovery

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that the company is planning for a recovery in advertising.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said that the tech firm has ramped up hiring, citing an end to the advertising slump.

Schmidt told reporters at the company's headquarters in New York that Google started to see the first signs of a recovery in May and June, and Wednesday he said the advertising recession has ended, according to a Google spokesman.

"The worst is behind us," said Schmidt. "We're clearly seeing aspects of recovery, not just in the U.S. but also Europe."

Google weathered the economic downturn well, but the company still endured more modest gains in revenue and earnings than the soaring profit and sales it was used to in prior years.

Despite a growth in the total number of clicks from online advertisements in recent quarters, advertisers paid Google less per click and consumers clicked on ads for cheaper products.

As a result, the search giant scaled back its workforce in the second quarter.

Google had 19,786 full-time employees around the globe as of June 30, which was 378 employees less than it had at the end of the first quarter.

Most of those were due to previously announced job cuts of 300 of its sales, marketing and recruiting staff, the company said, though the company was still hiring during the latest round of layoffs.

Google will report its financial results for the third quarter on Oct. 15. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the company to squeeze out a modest 4% rise in sales and a 9% surge in profit.

Shares of Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) rose 2% in afternoon trading.