More than 90 per cent of companies polled in the banking and finance, utilities and telecommunications industries fear economic conditions will not improve before the third quarter of 2002.
The annual Deloitte Re:sources survey of 41 industry leaders in NSW, Victoria and Queensland found expectations of tough economic conditions in 2002.
All three industries shared a gloomy outlook after suffering restructures, cost control projects, downsizing and freezing of the permanent workforce in the past 12 months.
About half predicted a turnaround in Q3 2002 while 20 per cent saw no improvement before 2003.
Half of the banking and finance sector nominated Q3 2002, while the telecommunications sector was less optimistic, nominating Q4 2002.
Re:sources lead partner Deborah Coakley said the tight climate has led companies to place greater emphasis on risk management, corporate governmance and regulatory reporting, and compliance work.
"This is good news for accounting, tax and finance contractors," she said.
When asked about recent world events, participants said this did not affect their recruitment strategy and more than 50 per cent said September 11 had not resulted in redundancies.