A global survey of hiring and firing trends covering more than 9,000 organisations in 35 key countries has found job prospects for professionals and managers continuing to improve.

The ‘Global Snapshot’ project from the international recruitment firm, Antal, asked 9,153 companies in major markets such as Western and Eastern Europe, Eurasia 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 has gone up from 50% of respondents since the last study in November 2016 to 54% now and the percentage of organisations intending to hire in the coming quarter has also gone up from 45% to 46%.

At the same time the percentage of organisations intending to shed staff had fallen from 18% to 9% now.

Western Europe

The highest current hiring levels amongst the larger economies were in Denmark (92%) and Austria (87%). The lowest levels of hiring were in UK at 46% of business surveyed, followed by the Italy (51%).

The job market is currently doing well in Spain (77%) and it seems to improve over the next three months, with the Pharmaceuticals sector being the most active sector with 94% of the companies taking staff in now, and 99% of them intending to do so in the next quarter.

Eastern Europe and Eurasia

The highest recruiting level in this region was in Russia (82%) with the Retail and Pharmaceutical sectors currently holding the highest figures of hiring new staff at 100% and 98% respectively.

Middle East

In the Middle East, the survey indicated that 58% of the companies that participated are currently hiring and a further growth is announced in the next quarter with 60%. The UAE is a good example of the job market in the area and even has a higher number with 62% of companies currently taking staff in.

The Americas

The job market in this continent shows a variable outlook with 69% of companies hiring and 68% in the next quarter. With Brazil showing the most positive outlook with 85% of business taking staff in now and 90% in the next quarter, compared to Mexico in the other hand with a 53% and 50% hiring trend.