Recruitment levels in the UK are among the highest in Western Europe, according to the latest Antal Global Snapshot survey.

The quarterly survey of hiring and firing trends around the world from international recruitment firm, Antal, found that recruitment levels in the UK have increased since September 2009, with 59% of British companies reporting that they were currently hiring compared to 50% in the last report (recruiter.co.uk, 7 September).

The UK came in slightly higher than the US (56%), with Switzerland recording the highest hiring rates in Western Europe at 64%.

The rest of Western Europe showed similar hiring rates, with 55% hiring in France and 51% in Germany, however many of the smaller countries bettered their larger neighbours, namely Switzerland (64%), Austria (58%) and Luxembourg (58%).

The lowest levels of hiring were in Malta at 31% and Spain at just 30%. Nigeria boasts the highest level of hiring across the world with 79% of companies taking on staff, followed by Russia, India and China all at 71%.

However, UK organisations plan on dropping their hiring activity over the next three months, although only by 7%. The number of firms letting staff go is also expected to fall to just under a third. Staff ‘churn’ seems inevitable as businesses act to source the best talent, but it looks as though recruitment activity is set to stabilise as the recovery gets underway.

Antal’s chief executive, Tony Goodwin, says: “Although a few countries are still seeing a decline in the employment market, the global picture has definitely improved once again.

“We are most certainly not ‘out of the woods’ as yet and there may be more unpleasant economic surprises to come but it does seem as if organisations of all sizes are approaching 2010 with more confidence than would have seemed possible in the very dark days of January 2009.”