Business confidence in the UK economy improved significantly in January-March, Employer confidence in making hiring and investment decisions remained stable.

 Short-Term Outlook:

Do you think the number of permanent workers in your organisation will increase or decrease in the next three months?

• Employers' intentions to hire permanent staff in the short term remained stable in the first quarter of 2021 at net: +20.
• This was one percentage point higher than both the previous rolling quarter and the first quarter of 2020.
• Hiring intentions were highest in London (net: +30) and lowest in the devolved nations(net: +12).
• There were also notably higher in micro/small (net: +22) and medium (net: +24) enterprises than in the UK's largest organisations (net: +13).

Medium-term outlook:

Do you think the number of permanent workers in your organisation will increase or decrease in the next four to twelve months?

• Intentions to hire permanent staff in the medium term decreased by two percentage points from the previous rolling quarter to net: +28. This was six percentage points higher than a year earlier.
• Hiring intentions were highest in the Midlands (net: +33) and the South (including London) (net: +31) and lowest in the devolved nations (net: +19).
• They were higher in micro/small (net: +34) enterprises than medium-sized (net: +25) or large (net: +24) organisations.