Business owners expect to stop cutting staff for the first time in a year in the first quarter of 2010, according to data released by recruitment firm Manpower.

The company's quarterly employment outlook survey showed that a net balance of 0% of firms planned to cut jobs in the first three months of 2010, up from -1% in the last survey.

Despite only two sections - finance and business services and utilities - planning to hire more staff than they let go in 2010 this is the most positive reading since the third quarter of 2008, with hiring intentions improving in four out of nine sectors surveyed.

"The Manpower survey is welcome news and adds to other industry barometers suggesting that the worst news on the economy is in the past," said Alan Clarke, economist at BNP Paribas.