Europe is less optimistic about job prospects than the rest of the world, according to the Manpower figures.
More than 49,000 employers across 25 countries gave their predictions for recruitment activity in the three months from July 2006.
India leads the way with an NEO of 43%. Hong Kong is in second place with 30%, closely followed by Canada (29%) and the US (24%).
The top optimist in Europe is Ireland, which has an NEO of 22%, while traditionally strong regions Germany (1%), Italy (2%), The Netherlands and France (both with NEOs of 4%) struggled in the past year.
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The UK, with an NEO of 13%, is the fifth-best performing European country after Ireland, Norway (16%), Spain (16%) and Austria (14%), but the Asia Pacific region and the Americas dominate the table.
The exception, however, is China, which has fallen by 15% in three months (7% over the year). It is also the only non-European country to fail to hit double figures, with an NEO of just 6%.