EMPLOYMENT: A manpower survey shows that 24 per cent of employers in the Republic and 16 per cent in Northern Ireland expect to increase staff numbers in the first quarter of this year.

However, in a departure from traditional employment patterns, the 600 employers surveyed said they intended to increase temporary staffing levels by 45 per cent, while increasing permanent staffing by just 25 per cent.

The survey, the first conducted by Manpower Ireland, a subsidiary of the US-based Manpower plc, shows the biggest increase in the financial sector, followed by pharmaceuticals.

A surprising 44 per cent of respondents in the financial sector said they intended to increase staff; in pharmaceutical companies it was 42 per cent.

Both information technology and agribusiness showed strong staff growth patterns. Only transport and utility companies showed a zero response, possibly a reflection of rationalisation and increased productivity policies in these companies.

Mr Jason Kennedy, chief executive of the Manpower Group in Ireland, said he was not surprised to discover that 22 per cent of IT companies intended to increase their staffing levels. There had been a radical haemorrhage of staff last year but his experience was that there was a week-on-week increase in this quarter.

Overall, the results reflected a fairly high degree of optimism or bullishness in the market in both parts of the island, he said.

To the end of March, 69 per cent of companies in the Republic anticipated they would maintain staffing levels and just 6 per cent intended to reduce. In Northern Ireland, 79 per cent of the companies surveyed predicted no change and 5 per cent predicted a decrease.

This represents a net job gain of 18 per cent in the Republic and 11 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Similar surveys undertaken in Britain and the United States forecast a "zero" net jobs gain, Mr Kennedy said.