The public sector is predicting fewer redundancies according to the quarterly Labour Market Outlook survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

The fall in redundancy intentions rather than the creation of news jobs has produced an improved jobs prospect. The net employment balance for the public sector is -32.This is its least negative since the winter 2009/10 report. It compares to -49 in the last quarter. The number of public sector employers planning redundancies has fallen per cent to 45 from 49 per cent during the same period.

The Institute’s Labour Market Outlook report shows that improving overall employment prospects are being driven more by a fall in redundancy intentions in the public and private sectors. The private sector is driving much of the upturn, with the net employment balance for the private sector rising to +25 compared with +10 three months ago.

The immediate jobs outlook has turned positive for the first time in more than a year, driven largely by a decrease in redundancy intentions. The report’s net employment balance, which measures the difference between the proportion of employers that intend to increase total staffing levels and those that intend to decrease total staffing levels in the first quarter of 2012, has risen to +6 from -8 since the Winter 2011/12 quarter. This is the report’s first positive figure for more than a year.

Some three quarters of voluntary and not-for-profit employers plan to hire employees in the second quarter of 2012.