NEARLY two-thirds of businesses in the eastern region expect to create jobs this year, according to a new survey, while around nine out of 10 are not planning any redundancies.

The Barclays Job Creation Survey for 2013 shows that 63% of firms in the region plan to create jobs within the next 12 months, compared with 55% in last year’s survey, and 87% of businesses in the region are not expecting any redundancies in the coming year.

Across the UK there are significant differences in hiring intentions for 2013 between different sizes of companies:

Only 48% of small businesses plan to create jobs this year, the least likely to recruit out of all groups and below last year’s figure of 51%. At the other end of the scale, however, 71% of mid-sized firmed plan to recruit additional staff, up from 65% a year ago.

Among large businesses, 65% plan to create jobs, down from 72% last year, while among the largest businesses only 50% plan to take on more people, a sharp fall from 70% a year ago.

Overall, 56% of all companies plan to create new jobs this year, little changed from last year’s figure of 58%, putting the eastern region well ahead of the national average.

David Farrow, Barclays’ managing director for corporate banking in the east, said: “Eastern businesses have weathered the economic storm well, and still have room to flourish and grow, which explains their willingness to hire.

“It’s also positive to see that the vast majority of businesses in the region are not expecting to lose jobs in the coming year.”

The survey also addresses attitudes among firms towards the recruitment of people former employed in the public sector.

Across the UK, 57% of all businesses in the survey said they did not want to hire ex-public sector workers, an impression that has remained constant over the past two years, a figure largely unchanged from 58% last year.

Businesses in the Wales, Southern and London & South East regions continue to be more likely than others to be “very” or “quite” interested in taking on ex-public sector employees, at 42%, 41% and 40% respectively).

However, the eastern region has gone from being one of the least interested regions to being one of the most interested, up sharply from 33% to 42% to be equal with Wales.

Mr Farrow added: “The largest companies are the most interested in taking on public sector workers, as they are the best suited to a large company environment, yet unfortunately they are less likely to be recruiting this year.

“Having said that, the eastern region’s increased interest from a year ago in taking on ex-public sector workers could mean that when the time is right they will be considered for recruitment.”