on December 29 | in BUSINESSWISE, CAREERWISE | by admin | with No Comments

A regular global survey of hiring and firing trends covering more than 9,500 organisations in 30 key countries has found job prospects for professionals and managers continuing to improve.

The ‘Global Snapshot’ project from the international recruitment firm, Antal, asked 9,570 companies in major markets such as Western and Eastern Europe, China and Mexico whether they were currently hiring at professional and managerial level. It then asked whether they planned to do so in the coming quarter and whether they were currently letting staff go or were planning to do so in the next three months. Current hiring across the globe was up from 68% of respondents in January 2015 to 70% now. And the percentage of organisations intending to hire in the coming quarter was also up from 66% to 68%.

At the same time, the percentage of organisations intending to shed staff had fallen from 24% to 19% now.

Western Europe

The highest current hiring levels amongst the larger economies were in Netherlands (79%), Switzerland (70%) and UK(64%). The lowest level of hiring was in Italy at 35% of businesses surveyed, reflecting the economy’s reliance on the financial sector. The job market is currently faring well in Germany (53%), with a number of sectors being highly active: most notably Packaging and Banking, with 90% and 86% of businesses respectively taking new staff on.

Eastern Europe and Eurasia

The highest recruiting levels in this region were in Poland (71%) and Czech Republic (63%).  Across Poland, the utilities and SSC/BPO sectors currently holds the highest figures for hiring new staff at 92%and 91% respectively. Hungary’s economic problems meant that it had the lowest level of hiring in the region with only 31% of businesses questioned actively seeking new managers or professionals.

Africa and the Middle East

South Africa offers a good indication that African employment, at least at a professional and managerial level, appear to be holding up well with 60% of businesses currently recruiting. Across the country, the banking sector currently holds the highest figures for hiring new staff at 90%. Despite the evident end of the ‘boom’ market in the Gulf, hiring levels in Qatar (74%) and Saudi Arabia (62%) look to hold on to professionals, possibly to meet the demand for the high-profile projects coming up in the Arab state, such as World Cup 2022.

Asia

76% of organisations surveyed currently hiring in China. However, the percentage of organisations shedding staff has risen from 32% to 36% suggesting that employers are taking advantage of current conditions to “weed out” less productive staff. The picture in India is a similar one to that in China with the professional jobs market making a substantive recovery after a major loss of confidence at the start of 2015. Anticipated hiring levels in India are up to 88% from 59%. Perhaps not surprisingly, the continuing growth of the Indian economy is reflected in the demand for qualified managers and professionals in almost every sector. Accounting(79%), Education (78%) and e-Commerce(74%) are particularly affected.

The Americas

The Mexican jobs market shows stability; the positive outlook with 54%of companies hiring is set against 34% reporting job cuts.

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