The Global Snapshot project from the multi-national recruitment firm, Antal International, asked 17,199 companies in markets such as western and eastern Europe, Africa, India, China and the USA whether they were currently hiring at professional and managerial level.
It then asked whether they planned to do so in the coming quarter and whether they were currently letting staff go or were planning to do so in the next three months.
Current hiring levels across the globe were down marginally with 55% of respondents recruiting at professional and managerial level in comparison to 56% in the last survey in July. More than half (54%) of organisations questioned also intended to hire in the coming quarter.
The rate of attrition was up slightly from 18% in December to 20% now and this was expected to remain the same over the next three months.
The highest levels of hiring in Western Europe were found in Malta (53%),Denmark (51%), Luxembourg (50%) and Finland (49%) while the lowest was recorded in Spain where only 29% of companies questioned were in the process of recruiting at professional or managerial level. In the UK the percentage of businesses recruiting was down from 48% in July to 45% now and is expected to rise to remain constant over the coming quarter.
In Eastern Europe he highest levels of recruitment were found in Bulgaria (62%), Russia (58%) and Poland (58%). The lowest were recorded in Hungary (38%) and Turkey (41%).
Employment markets were relatively strong across the Middle East, the weakest, in UAE registering a respectable 49% hiring rate. The highest levels of recruitment were found in Qatar (77%),Oman (74%) and Kuwait (60%).
In Africa's most high profile economy, South Africa, hiring levels were down markedly from 68% in December to 53% now, but this figure is expected to rise to 59% over the next three months. The highest level of recruitment were seen in Egypt and Ghana where 55% of businesses polled were hiring professionals or managers.
The Philippines recorded the highest level of recruitment activity in all 52 countries surveyed with 97% of organisations currently hiring. Activity was up in China from 67% in December to 72% now and is expected to drop only marginally to 71% in the coming quarter. In India the percentage of organisations increasing headcount had fallen from 72% in December to 55% now but is due increase to 57% in the next three months.
Canada registered the strongest performance in the Americas with 53% of businesses currently seeking staff, while the figure for US employers was 48%. In Latin America the most buoyant hiring market was in Argentina where 44% of businesses were hiring at professional and managerial level.
Antal's CEO Tony Goodwin said: "The bad news is overall hiring across the more than 17,000 organisations taking part in this edition of Global Snapshot is down since out last survey in December," says." The good news, however, is that it is only down by 1%. And it seems that this level of activity will remain more or less constant over the coming quarter, suggesting that a degree of stability has finally returned to the global employment market for managers and professionals."
"But feedback from our consultants and managers in over 30 countries on five continents indicates that, whether an employment market is active or not, competition for the best talent at the professional and managerial level is consistently fierce. Why? Because the skills that companies need in conjunction with specific technical capabilities - such as effective people management and development, concise and clear oral and written communication, commercial awareness, entrepreneurship and innovation - are always in short supply. And in a world where businesses are having to change and adapt faster than at any other time in history to tackle both opportunities and challenges that situation is not likely to improve. In fact it's more likely to get worse. As the last annual survey of multi-national CEOs by PwC neatly pointed out, it's not just a question of being short of talent. It's being short of the right talent. Which means that whether you're in Bangalore, Beijing, Birmingham or Boston our old friend the 'war for talent' may turn out to be a struggle that simply has no end."