Industry's order books remain weak, with little sign of an immediate upturn, according to the latest IBEC/ESRI monthly industrial survey. The only bright spot in the survey was some improvement in sentiment in the modern industrial sectors, where expectations of future orders and likely employment trends show improvement.

The survey, taken last month, "provided little immediate comfort as order books and new orders remained weak overall", said Mr David Croughan, IBEC chief economist.

Some 37 per cent of the companies surveyed said total order books had worsened during the month, compared to 13 per cent reporting an improvement. For new orders, the balance was 29 per cent reporting fewer orders compared to 13 per cent reporting an increase - little changed from the previous two months.

Despite this, however, there were some positive signs in the jobs market, where 23 per cent of firms surveyed said they expected employment to increase in the months ahead compared with 20 per cent anticipating a decline and 57 per cent looking for no change. This was a sharp improvement from the previous month and was caused by a turnaround in mood in the capital goods sector - which includes many of the larger multinational firms.

For example, in the office and data-processing sector, including many of the big computer firms, 83 per cent of those surveyed see improving orders books and employment in the months ahead, a turnaround from the previous month. Other sectors, particularly consumer goods, continue to expect declining employment and Mr Croughan said that the overall outlook for jobs remained weak.