The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, released today and based on responses from over 2,100 UK employers, reports a national Seasonally Adjusted Net Employment Outlook of +2%.
But encouraging signs from some employers within the private sector are offset by the gloomy outlook of the public sector, which reports a hiring intention of -22%. This is the worst figure since the early 1990s when the UK was mired in recession.
Mark Cahill, MD at Manpower UK, said: "We've heard a lot over the last few years about how the economy needs rebalancing. However it seems that the sector that has been accused of getting us into the mess in the first place - Finance, Banking and Business Services - is the very sector that is leading the way into recovery.
"Some of our clients - including a number of the big high street banks - are asking Manpower to fill twice the number of positions that they were last year. These new jobs are not the high rolling stereotypical bankers. They are overwhelmingly back office and support positions - which are the engine room of any large organisation."
The Finance, Banking & Business Services sector leads the way post-recession with upbeat intentions of +16%, and continues to be the most positive of any sector. This is the sector's strongest quarterly hiring intention since Q4 2007. The manufacturing industry sector reports low but positive hiring intentions for the fifth successive quarter whilst employers in the Utilities, Mining and Transport industry sectors also report modest butpositive intentions. A neutral outlook for the Construction industry sector marks the first time in 11 quarters (since the end of 2008) that the sector is not projecting a decrease in hiring intentions.
The Outlook of +2% marks the seventh successive quarter of relative balance between organisations reporting increased and decreased hiring intentions. In the next quarter, 80% of businesses do not plan to alter overall employment levels. Whilst 10% report plans to increase and 8% plans to decrease, the overall picture is of balanced churn.
Statistically, employers in the East, South East and South West report the most positive outlooks, with hiring intentions of +12%, +9% and +8%, respectively, with employers in Wales also reporting positive hiring intentions of +3% . Meanwhile, Scotland, West Midlands and Northern Ireland employers continue to report negative hiring intentions at -9%, -6% and -4%, respectively. London is set to see the most churn of any region, with 3 in 10 businesses expecting to change overall staffing levels, with an almost equal split between those projecting an increase and decrease, meaning the Outlook for London remains +1% for a second successive quarter.
