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The slowdown in major economies is starting to bite. Britain's hiring outlook is now the worst in fourteen years, and the United States had its weakest result in four years in the latest Quarterly Outlook Survey by employment agency Manpower. The survey comes just days after shocking jobs data from the United States caused global stocks to tumble. But David Arkless, senior Vice President of Manpower, says these figures come after years of good results and employers are not necessarily cutting jobs. SOUNDBITE: David Arkless, senior Vice President of Manpower "It was a shock, but don't forget what the U.S. calls a shock is a difference of ten thousand jobs in a huge economy. I think some of the measures of the impact of labour, unemployment and productivity are way too finely tuned for the good of the economic forecasting in the Fed." In Europe, countries like Spain and Italy are showing their worst job prospects for a long time, whereas in Germany, which is Europe's biggest exporter, there's a stable hiring outlook. SOUNdBITE: David Arkless, senior Vice President of Manpower "So when you see a slowdown caused by financial markets which breeds into the consumer cycle, that hits countries first that don't have a huge exporting labour market, so Germany is benefitting from being a big exporter." But another big exporter - China - has seen hiring slow significantly across all industry sectors, largely because of new laws which give workers more rights and stability but also have cost implications. Elsewhere in Asia, India still has strong hiring intentions, because government spending on the country's infrastructure is creating work, especially in construction. Stefanie McIntyre, Reuters COMPANIES MENTIONED: SYMBOLS: