EMPLOYERS in the North West are upbeat about jobs prospects over the next three months.

The latest Manpower survey reports that 21 per cent of bosses in the region expect to increase their workforce against 13 per cent predicting a fall.

"It is good to see the North West is showing a positive outlook," said Manpower spokesman John McArthur.

"A number of companies and sectors are predicting a boost in their output from the second quarter of the year onwards. In most cases this will result in increased staffing."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.