A quarterly global survey of hiring and firing trends covering more than 6000 organisations in 30 countries has found job prospects for professionals and managers continuing to improve.

The‘Global Snapshot' from the international recruitment firm, Antal, asked 6151 companies in major markets such as western and eastern Europe, Africa, India, China and the USA 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 50% of respondents in the autumn to 53% now. And the percentage of organisations intending to hire in the coming quarter was up from 48% to 55%. On the downside the percentage of organisations intending to shed staff had also risen slightly from 25% in the autumn to 28% now. However the general consensus was that the figure would drop to 22% over the coming quarter.

Western Europe

The highest current hiring levels amongst the larger economies were in the UK (59%), France (55%), and Germany (51%). However many of the smaller countries bettered their larger neighbours, namely Switzerland (64%), Austria (58%) and Luxembourg (58%).The lowest levels of hiring were in Malta at 31% and Spain at just 30%.

Eastern Europe and Eurasia

The highest recruiting levels in this region were in Russia (71%), the Czech Republic (57%), Romania (55%) and Poland (48%). Hungary's well-documented economic problems meant that it had the lowest level of hiring in the region with only 28% of businesses questioned actively seeking new managers or professionals although this was an improvement on the autumn figure of just 26%.

Africa and the Middle East

After a rebound to 61% in September from April's low of 51%, hiring levels in Egypt continue to rise, albeit at a more modest rate to 65%. Despite the well-publicised economic pains of Dubai, the region as a whole seems to be holding up well with hiring levels rising from 46% in September to 51% now. Confidence in the future is also gathering strength with 62% of businesses expecting to hire in the coming quarter in comparison to only 49% in September. In South Africa hiring rates have climbed from the autumn's 45% to 49% now, whilst Nigeria registers the highest level of recruitment across the 30 countries – 79%.

Asia

Hiring levels have dipped slightly in China from a high of 74% recorded in September, but employers appear to be confident about recruitment plans for the coming quarter with 74% of businesses planning to increase headcount. The percentage of organisations shedding staff at professional and managerial level has dropped markedly from 34% to 25% and looks set to drop again over the next three months. In India after a depressing start to 2009 when hiring levels at professional and managerial level had sunk as low as 29% the country is now back up a figure of 71%. The percentage or organisations shedding staff has also dropped from 22% in September to just 16% now.

The Americas

With the economic picture in the USA remains mixed the latest Snapshot suggests that the professional and managerial jobs market has remained static since September. However the percentage of organisations shedding staff has declined from 34% to 29% with employers expecting a further drop over the next three months. Hiring levels in Brazil have dropped slightly from the 56% registered in September to 50%, but employers seem optimistic about growth in the executive jobs market over the coming quarter. At the same time the percentage of organisations shedding staff has dropped markedly, from 28% to just 16% now.

Winners and losers

Across the globe the sectors with the highest levels of recruitment at professional and managerial level were:

1) Pharmaceuticals

2) Manufacturing

3) Engineering

4) IT software

5) Banking

The lowest were education and shipbuilding.

Conclusions

"Although a few countries are still seeing a decline in the employment market, the global picture has definitely improved once again,"says Antal's CEO, Tony Goodwin. "As we said in September, we are most certainly not'out of the woods'as yet and there may be more unpleasant economic surprises to come but it does seem as if organisations of all sizes are approaching 2010 with more confidence than would have seemed possible in the very dark days of January 2009. As a result we are already seeing the first clear signs of organisations thinking in terms of the'war for talent'once more with more robust businesses making early moves to snap up the best people in their markets before general recovery becomes too apparent."