JOB prospects in the South-West are better than elsewhere in Britain, a survey has found.

Despite continuing economic gloom, the UK’s employment outlook is the most positive it has been in three years, according to Manpower, a provider of contingent and permanent recruitment workforce solutions.

The outlook for the South-West outperforms the national outlook, the firm says.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, based on responses from over 2,100 UK employers and used as a key economic statistic by both the Bank of England and the UK government, reports a national Seasonally Adjusted Net Employment Outlook of +3%.

This compares with a net outlook of +2% in Q2 2011.

In the UK overall, the national outlook is positive for the seventh successive quarter and more positive than it has been since the height of the recession. Finance, Banking and Business Services remains the most bullish sector, with a +10% outlook.

Although the manufacturing industry sector reports a lower score of +6%, its performance is on the rise, up five points compared to this time last year. Within the private sector, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are leading job creation with an +8% outlook, which is notably higher than the flat intentions of larger and micro companies.

The outlook for the South-West is +7%, one percentage point lower than Q2 2011 but six percentage points higher year-over-year. The region has consistently outperformed the national average for several years.

“The summer is traditionally strong for the South-West”, says Andrew Shellard, operations manager for the South-West at Manpower UK.

“The dominance of the leisure, tourism and hospitality industries in the region means that we always see a pick up at this time of year for seasonal staff. But this time around, we’re also seeing increased demand from national accounts, including customer service call centres of major banks and various business services organisations.”