Manpower’s quarterly Employment Outlook survey shows a strong improvement in hiring intentions for the December quarter.

The survey of more than 2,300 employers showed the net employment outlook jumped 5 percentage points to positive 7%. This was driven by an increase in the proportion of employers planning to increase hiring (18%, up 4pp from the previous quarter) and a fall in the number planning to reduce headcount (9%, down 5pp).

However, hiring intentions are still significantly weaker than a year ago, when the net employment outlook was positive 16%.

Manpower Australia and NZ CEO Lincoln Crawley said the two quarters in a row of improving employer sentiment were "an encouraging sign that the employment market has turned the corner".

The survey showed some key industries returning to more bullish employment expectations, with mining and construction rising from 15% last quarter to 23% and transport and utilities rising from 13% to 20%.

A major change since the last survey was the finding that no industry sector employers reported a negative net employment outlook.

Employers in the manufacturing, and the wholesale and retail trade industry sectors returned to positive hiring intentions for the final quarter.

Australia among the strongest employment markets

The global version of Manpower’s Employment Outlook survey shows that the Australian labour market is one of the strongest among the 35 countries and territories covered by the research.

The survey showed the strongest employment outlook in India, followed by Brazil, Colombia, Peru, China, Australia and Singapore.

The Asia-Pacific region as a whole also showed resilience, with six of the eight countries surveyed by Manpower improving their employment outlooks in the quarter.

Only two countries in this region, Japan (negative 6%) and New Zealand (negative 1%) still had negative employment outlooks.

Europe was the weakest region for employment prospects, with the overwhelming majority of countries still showing negative employment outlooks.