Those fearing tougher times ahead were offered a seed of hope yesterday after a survey showed Sussex employers had positive recruitment plans.

Fourteen per cent of bosses in the South East said they were planning to take on more staff in the next three months, according to the latest quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

Only four per cent of those surveyed said they intended to cut staff, giving a net balance of plus ten per cent - three per cent stronger than the national average.

The survey will provide some comfort in Sussex, where workers have been rocked by a series of major redundancy announcements in recent months. More than 300 jobs are set to go at GlaxoSmithKline in Crawley and Worthing, 200 at Parker Pen in Newhaven, 180 at COSi in Littlehampton and and up to another 130 at South East Water in Haywards Heath.

Meanwhile hundreds of jobs are under threat in the public sector, with both Brighton and Hove City Council and Hastings Borough Council announcing redundancies in a bid to meet stringent cost-saving targets.

Phil Bassett, Manpower's operations manager for the South East, said: "Business confidence is encouraging in the South East and this is reflected by the increase in hiring intentions for the region, which are above the national average.

"The increased number of business parks moving to the South East is facilitating a new wave of business growth into the region, helping to boost job opportunities in the local labour market."

Around the country, employers in 11 of the 12 regions surveyed report increased hiring activity for the January to March 2008 period, with the exception of employers in the North East, who report the only negative outlook (minus two per cent), their weakest outlook since January to March 2002.

Employers in Yorkshire and Humberside are the most optimistic with an outlook up 12 per cent, the strongest since the first quarter of 2002. Employers in London (nine per cent), Wales (nine per cent), and West Midlands (nine per cent) report favourable hiring.

More than 2,000 employers were interviewed for the Manpower survey, regarded as one of the most robust in the industry.

Its findings contradict another survey published yesterday which suggested business confidence in the service-dominated South had fallen to its lowest level since the summer of 2005.