Employment outlook declines for last quarter
EMPLOYERS in the North West will continue to hold back on staff recruitment in the final three months of the year, according to a new employment survey.
A survey of 170 local employers by recruitment firm Manpower, found outlook to be considerably worse than the rest of the UK.
The survey subtracted those employers who plan to reduce staffing levels from those who plan to hire staff – a positive result would indicate that more employers plan to increase rather than decrease staffing levels; a negative result reflects the opposite.
In the North West the report found outlook to stand at -8% for October to December, worse than the UK average of 2% and a 3% decline on the previous quarter. The results are also 7 percentage points lower than this time last year.
Greg Hollis, Manpower’s operations manager for the North West, said: “The Survey results indicate that a slow hiring pace will prevail during the remainder of 2009.”
He added: “The North West has been hit hard by job losses, particularly within manufacturing and specifically on production lines.
“However, as a business, we are now seeing some encouraging signs as demand for temporary clerical and administrative staff – along with permanent roles in sales and marketing – are providing some pockets of headcount growth locally.”
