Australia’s labour bible is not all doom and gloom. But neither is it really upbeat.

The Hudson Report’s New Year card reveals Australia to be still positive despite rising negative international sentiment. Over a third of surveyed hiring managers said they intended to increase permanent headcount over the coming three months. Still, over the past quarter some amount of optimism has faded – precisely by 2.2 percentage points to an overall 25.7% level.

The Hudson Report, based on in-depth and nationwide research, is released quarterly.

In this quarter, it surveyed 4,338 employers across 19 core industry groups in Australia, revealing hiring expectations of Australian employers over the forthcoming quarter and provides insights into a range of human resource issues currently impacting business and the broader Australian economy.

Resources sectors leads the way

“Despite the current international uncertainty, and changing conditions at home, employment expectations in Australia on the whole remain positive, particularly in the resources, transport and construction and engineering sectors,” said Mark Leigh, CFO of Hudson Asia Pacific.

A strong 35.9% of surveyed employers across Australia are reporting intentions to increase the number of permanent employees in the first three months of 2012 and 54%, or more than half, are planning to keep headcount steady over the same period. The number of employers planning to decrease permanent staff in the first quarter remained unchanged over the quarter at 10.1%.

“Despite the current international uncertainty, and changing conditions at home, employment expectations in Australia on the whole remain positive, particularly in the resources, transport and construction and engineering sectors,” said Leigh. “Furthermore, we expect high demand in certain roles, such as engineering, geology, HSE and operational roles as well as for customer facing IT specialists.”

“Now more than ever, in a turbulent economic climate, the cost of a bad hire is crippling. It is essential that employers have a robust process in place to rigorously assess and secure the best people for their businesses,” added Leigh.

Some other findings in the report:

• Sentiment in the resource rich states of Western Australia and Queensland remained strong at net 45.1% and 35.4% respectively.

• Employer confidence in New South Wales rose 2.4 percentage points over the quarter to net 23.5%, pushing the state to third most confident state or territory, from fifth in the previous quarter.

• South Australia was the only state or territory to record a rise in sentiment year-on-year, rising 1.7 percentage points from the same time last year. However, hiring intentions in the state dropped 2.1 percentage points over the quarter to net 20.5%.

• Victoria remained the nation’s least confident state or territory, dropping 12.7 percentage points year-on-year to net 17.8%.

• The resources sector is once again the nation’s most confident at net 57.7% — a strong 32 percentage points above the net national average.

• Employer confidence in construction/property and engineering is strong, with net 38.7% of hiring managers intending to increase permanent headcount over the coming three months.

• Confidence in the professional services sector and information technology dropped this quarter.

• The transport sector recorded the highest growth in sentiment, rising a strong 7 percentage points over the quarter to net 33.3%. Sentiment in the FMCH sector rose 4.4 percentage points to net 11.4%.

• Manufacturing experienced the largest year-on-year drop, plummeting 28.4 percentage points to net 10.7%, becoming the nation’s least confident sector. Confidence in the tourism and hospitality industry dropped significantly, down 24.5 percentage points from to net 19.2% on the back of a strong Australian dollar increased international competition.

Hudson is a Nasdaq-listed provider of permanent recruitment, contract professionals and talent management services worldwide.