New research from Barclays Corporate has found that the hospitality and leisure industry is "more open" to hiring ex-public sector workers.

The Barclays Corporate Job Creation Survey 2011 polled 500 executives from firms across a range of sectors, looking at attitudes towards job creation and the economic outlook. While 38 per cent of businesses stated they were either 'quite' or 'very' interested in taking on ex-public sector workers, the figure among hospitality and leisure firms was 45 per cent.

More than half of the participants from within the hospitality and leisure sector also indicated that jobs will be created in the coming year, albeit at a low or unskilled level. Barclays Corporate head of hospitality and leisure Mike Saul said: "The hospitality and leisure industry has shown they are more interested in employing public sector workers than the general business population.

"Increased confidence and therefore investment in the hospitality and leisure industry feeds into a positive cycle in which job creation is an inevitable output."