Revenue at Manpower Inc fell by 26.0% to $4.19bn (£2.538bn) in the third quarter. This compares with $5.67bn in the same period in 2008. 

US revenue fell 21.2% to $409.8m from $519.8m in the third quarter of 2008.

Jeffrey Joerres, Manpower’s chairman and chief executive, says: “We continued to experience sluggish demand for our services as the labour markets throughout the world were hampered by lack of demand for companies’ products and services.

“All of our major operations contributed to our better than expected profitability as revenue across the board was marginally stronger, however, the uptick in revenue is muted at this time compared to previous recoveries.”

Manpower says that it expects revenue will be down by 9% to 11% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. In its Americas division,  Manpower estimates revenue will fall by between 10% and  13%.