UK firms' hiring plans strongest since Q3 2008: survey

The Manpower seasonally adjusted net employment outlook for

the first quarter of 2013 rose to 6 percent from 3 percent for

the current quarter.

That suggests the strongest hiring intentions since plans

for the penultimate quarter of 2008. However, Britain was in the

middle of its deepest recession in over 50 years at the time,

which tempers the survey's optimism.

"We should not get carried away, today's jobs market lacks

the dynamism we saw before 2008, with the vast majority of UK

firms continuing to sit on their hands," said Mark Cahill,

managing director of ManpowerGroup UK.

"The good news this time round is being driven by a relatively small number of businesses looking to expand."

In the past 12 months, firms have continued to create jobs

despite a broadly stagnant economy, puzzling economists and

policymakers. Unemployment has inched down and the employment level hit an all-time high between June and August.

Firms hired permanent staff at the fastest rate since April

2011 last month and the number of unfilled posts rose strongly,

according to a poll by Britain's Recruitment and Employment

Confederation and KPMG out on Monday.

Official figures on Wednesday are expected to show that the

number of Britons claiming unemployment benefits rose by 7,000

in November, while the jobless rate on the wider ILO measure

stayed at 7.8 percent between August and October.

ManpowerGroup said business services firms were particularly

upbeat, while the retail, wholesale, restaurants and hotels

sector reported the strongest hiring

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