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Employers in the UK are the least confident in Europe about their ability to hire additional workers – but they are significantly more optimistic about their recruitment prospects than they were six months ago. ManpowerGroup’s latest Employment Outlook Survey, which is used as a key economic indicator by both the Bank of England and the UK government, revealed a net employment outlook of -6% for Q1 2021. Although this represents an overall decline in employers’ ability to hire, it is up from -12% recorded earlier this year. Just 49% of UK organisations expect their hiring to return to pre-pandemic levels within the next 12 months. Some 1,306 UK employers were asked about their intentions to hire additional workers or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter. UK employers were the least positive in Europe, behind Switzerland (-4%), Austria (-2%), Spain (-1%) and Slovakia (-1%). Greece was the most optimistic nation, with 9% of employers expecting to increase headcount. It was followed by Germany (8%), Turkey (8%), Ireland (7%) and Sweden (7%). Other countries in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region were included in the data, including South Africa and Israel. Mark Cahill, ManpowerGroup UK’s managing director, said: “The headline numbers are steadily moving in the right direction, and we are seeing a continued resurgence in key sectors like finance and business giving us reasons to be cheerful as we head into 2021. However, despite this positive trajectory, the UK remains the least optimistic in Europe, with continued uncertainty over Brexit and the effects of a second Covid-19 wave still looming large.” Retail and hospitality businesses were the least optimistic about their ability to hire, with the net employment outlook for this sector down two points to -13%. ManpowerGroup said this was the weakest figure for the sector on record. Employment prospects in London also looked weak, at -15%. For Q4 2020 the outlook was -11%. This suggests more redundancies in the capital could be imminent. Cahill said: “London’s shuttered shops are a stark reminder of the economic impact of the pandemic. Many of the city’s largest companies stuck to their hiring plans at the start of the first lockdown but are now adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach, deferring hiring until the impact of the EU-exit and the Covid-19 in the new year is clearer. “There is also a broader move away from the London-c
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