Firms in every sector are planning to take on extra staff in the coming months, and the East of England is beating the national average in terms of its hiring intentions, a survey has found.

Employers in the East of England, the most consistent region in terms of hiring intentions over the last 18 months, are recording a plus 8% recruitment trend, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, compared to a national average of plus 6%.

The region’s hiring intentions have been firmly in positive territory for two years now, and it has enjoyed some of the most consistently high Employment Outlooks across the country.

The study, based on responses from 2,112 UK employers, asks whether employers intend to hire additional workers or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter. It is considered the most comprehensive employment survey of its kind and is used as a key economic statistic by both the Bank of England and the UK government.

The outlook for jobs has been given an unexpected boost by the floods as extra staff are taken on to deal with damage caused by the atrocious weather, according to the report. Demand for builders and other tradesmen and women has increased, boosting the industry by an estimated £250million, and energy firms have had to recruit more engineers to help restore power to thousands of homes, as well as more customer service workers to handle compensation claims.

In addition, the roll-out of smart metering will create jobs at utility firms into next year.

Manpower said the UK jobs market has reached a turning point, with the employers interviewed in every sector, including construction, reporting positive hiring plans.

“It is great to see the level of consistency that there has been in the jobs market in our region has been maintained into another quarter,” said Manpower UK operations manager Jason Greaves.

“This latest Employment Outlook of plus 8% means that once again the region is looking to hire and takes our quarterly run of positive sentiment up to eight straight quarters. This is a fantastic result and means that not only do we regularly top the regional tables, but, importantly, the level of hiring is sustainable and it feels like the jobs are here to stay.”

“What we are noticing is that there are more jobs out there, and this appears to be giving candidates the confidence to consider changing careers completely.”