16% of employers to increase staff in next 3 months - Survey

Irish employment confidence is showing increased signs of a recovery for the second consecutive quarter, according to the latest results of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

For the three month period of April to June 16% of employers said they would be increasing staff with the net employment outlook rising to 9% recovering from 3% for the previous quarter's outlook.

The survey of 35,000 employers across 18 countries is conducted four times a year to measure employer's intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees.

"The results this quarter show a renewed confidence amongst employers for the second consecutive quarter. While this bodes well for the future, it is still too early in the year to determine whether we truly are on the upswing of a recovery," said Jason Kennedy, managing director of Manpower Ireland.

Despite the looming smoking ban the most optimistic sectors are restaurants and hotels with a net employment outlook of 48%, followed by mining and quarrying and Community, Social and Personal, both with net employment outlooks of 26%. Employers in the wholesale and retail sector are the least optimistic, with a net employment outlook of 10%.

"Seasonal variations are likely to have affected employers within the restaurant and hotels sector again this quarter," said Kennedy.

The hiring outlook for the Pharmaceutical sector is weak at -5% for the third quarter in a row, however the year on year outlook is more optimistic at 2%.

"The hiring outlook for the pharmaceutical sector has been weak for the past three quarters, but it may be very well that the market is stabilising. In 2002 the hiring activity was vigorous with strong outlooks, and this was a result of the flurry of overseas investment in the sector. The sector struggled in turn from a skills shortage and now seems to be settling," explained Kennedy.

The three main sectors all showed positive results, comparing favorable with the previous quarter.

The public sector is the most optimistic here with a net employment outlook of 26%. This is followed by manufacturing at 7% and services at 5%. The last survey showed a net employment outlook of -10% in public sector and -3% in manufacturing, followed by -8% in services.

Breaking down the regions employers in Ulster and Connacht are reporting particularly healthy net employment outlooks at 19% and 17% respectively. In Dublin the net employment outlook at 8% is one point down from the average.18% of establishments said that they plan to increase staff in the quarter and 10% saying they would not.

A net employment outlook of 3% in Leinster represented the lowest proportion of optimism. However this is a 4% increase from the negative rating last quarter.

In Munster the net employment outlook is 7% with 15% of employers expecting to hire staff and 8% planning not to.

Of the 11 European countries in the survey, eight expect to see improved job prospects. Hiring activity in the UK and France is expected to remain steady, while Norwegian employers are planning to slow the pace of hiring slightly.

Employers in New Zealand- the latest country to be added- are anticipating vigorous hiring activity in the three months ahead, with the strongest employment outlook recorded of the 19 countries included in the survey.