New Year Job Hopes Still Poor, Says Survey

Jobseekers are unlikely to find it any easier to get work at the start of 2009 than they did at the close of this year.

According to a new survey published this week, people seeking employment across Northern Ireland are in for a hard slog.

Recruitment agency Manpower's Employment Outlook Survey shows employers in Northern Ireland have lower intentions of taking on new staff for the first quarter of 2009 and are also among the least optimistic in the UK.

The province had a net employment outlook of -7%, the weakest since Northern Ireland was first included in the survey in 2003, especially when compares to a national average of -2%.

The figure is calculated by subtracting those employers who plan to reduce staffing levels from those who plan to hire staff, with a positive result indicating that more employers plan to increase rather than decrease staffing levels and vice versa.

The survey was based on interviews with 2,100 businesses employers about their hiring intentions covering January to March 2009.

Across the UK, employers in 10 of the 12 regions intend to decrease hiring levels compared to one year ago.

Employers in the north east of England (+9%) were most optimistic while employers in the south east, west Midlands, Scotland (all -9%) and Wales (-8%)were least hopeful.

(BMcC)