The US economy returned to growth in the third quarter. US gross domestic product grew at an annualised rate of 3.5% after four quarters of decline.

There was also more positive news on the employment front, where the number of US initial claims for unemployment fell by 1,000 or 0.2%, to 530,000 in the week ended 24 October from 531,000 in the previous week, according to the US Department of Labor.

However, Miles Hunt, chief executive of international recruiter Empresaria warned that despite these figures, recruiters weren’t out of wood yet. Hunt told Recruiter: “It’s a fairly anaemic recovery and organisation are seeing stabilisation at a low level of demand rather than a genuine pickup. As a consequence, while any recovery is positive it doesn’t reflect a transformation in the fortunes of staffing companies in the US.”