Global employment survey finds improved job market in UK

A regular survey of hiring and firing trends around the world has found that, not only have recruitment levels in the UK increased since the beginning of the year, they are now the highest amongst the larger economies Western Europe.

The ‘Global Snapshot’ from the international recruitment firm, Antal surveyed more than 9600 organisations in 55 countries on whether they were currently hiring and firing at professional and managerial level. It then asked whether they planned to do so in the coming quarter. 60% of British companies said that they were currently hiring compared to 59% in the last report.

The survey also showed that UK organisations plan to raise their hiring activity over the next three months, although only by 1%. The number of companies letting staff go is also expected to fall to just 19%, down from 38% in January..

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Elsewhere in Western Europe, hiring levels in France stood at 53% and in Germany at 41%. However many of the smaller countries bettered their larger neighbours, namely Belgium (66%), Netherlands (63%) and Switzerland (60%).The lowest levels of hiring were in Luxembourg at 29% and Malta at just 6%. More countries in Western Europe had experienced a drop in hiring levels than in any other geographic region.

“Although some countries, particularly in Western Europe, are still seeing a decline in the employment market, the global picture has definitely improved once again,” says Antal’s CEO, Tony Goodwin. “In the last two editions of Global Snapshot we have hesitated to suggest that a genuine and sustained recovery is underway, wary of the fact that more unpleasant surprises might still be announced by the banking community. However the fact that this industry now tops the list of the world’s most active sectors gives us the confidence to predict that a double dip recession is now unlikely to take place. As a result the nascent war for talent that has already broken out is likely to become fiercer over the next few months, as the most prescient businesses snap up the people who will enable them to secure best advantage in improving markets.”