Recruitment boost planned amid ‘cautious’ optimism
BUSINESS leaders across the North West are ‘cautiously’ preparing for an upturn with recruitment firmly back on the agenda, according to new research.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers annual Global CEO survey launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos has revealed that 63% of British chief executives believe recovery in the economy will occur in 2010.
The results for the UK are among the strongest in the world, beating Brazil (61%), India (59%) and China (53%).
This rising confidence in the UK has resulted in 42% of all bosses planning to increase their headcount in the next 12 months.
Three quarters of UK CEOs also expect consumers will spend less and save more and, as a consequence, 63 per cent plan to make some change to their business to account for this.
Nick Boden, senior partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Manchester, said: “It is encouraging to see that UK CEOs are beginning, if somewhat cautiously, to prepare for an upturn.
“Growth expectations have been severely impacted by the challenges of the financial and economic crisis and the fears of a protracted recession are beginning to recede.
“However, there remain significant variances in UK business leaders’ short term and long term outlooks, perhaps as a result of concerns about how UK public debt levels are reduced. Across the world outlook is even more divided geographically with emerging economies showing much stronger signs of confidence than CEOs in the developed territories.
“The upturn in employment prospects will be widely welcomed but this news must be tempered given that the bounce back may be a response to employment cuts made in the UK over the last 12 months.
“The fact CEOs are less likely to seek out new geographic markets is a significant concern, given the risk it places on UK competitiveness. Seeking out business growth opportunities from overseas is vital to future recovery.”
