European Business Leaders still cautious over head count

19% of European business leaders predict that their company
will increase their workforce against 29% who believe that they will have to reduce staff

The UK still cautious with only 19% of business leaders
surveyed expecting to increase staff in 2003

Spain comes out on top with an expected 11% net* increase in
workforces

These are just some of the results of the 12th UPS Europe Business Monitor - an annual survey of 1,452 senior business leaders from Europe''s top 15,000 companies by revenue, on a variety of issues impacting business - including workforce predictions.

This year''s survey finds that despite UK business leaders'' optimism about economic growth in 2003 (58% of UK business leaders expect the economic position of their company will get better over the next 12 months), they still remain cautious over increased head counts over the next 12 months,
reflecting a period of consolidation rather than a boom in new employment opportunities.

This caution is mirrored across Europe with 19% of senior
management expecting to increase their workforce; 29% expecting to reduce their workforce; and 51% predicting workforces will remain stable.

Looking at the results, nearly half (49%) of top UK executives surveyed believe that their company will keep their workforce stable and just under a third (32%) report that they expect to be forced to reduce workforces across
2003, whilst those expecting to increase their workforces stands at 19%.

Although cautious, the UK''s predictions around the workforce are more optimistic than last year''s. The net difference (net difference = those predicting an increase minus those predicting a decrease) has risen from
-21% last year to -13% this year.

Looking to the rest of Europe, the situation remains varied. France''s figures demonstrate a more optimistic outlook in workforce employment than the last two years (net figure = those predicting an increase minus those
predicting a decrease: net -16% in 2001 and net -11% in 2002). Belgium, Germany and Italy have, by contrast, become continually worse since 2000.

Spain is the only country bucking the employment trend. Along side predictions of important economic growth, Spanish business leaders predict an 11% net increase of their workforce in 2003, with 28% predicting that
they will increase their workforce and 17% planning to reduce staff.


Notes

1. The twelfth edition of the UPS Europe Business Monitor surveyed 1452
business leaders from Europe''s top 15,000 companies between September 16 and
October 25, 2002. This survey is conducted annually.

2. Interviews were conducted in the following countries: Belgium (100), France (251), Germany (250), Italy (250), The Netherlands (100), Spain (250) and the UK (251). Respondents are at director level. The average annual
revenue of the businesses interviewed is 1.66 billion euro (US$ 1.65 billion); their average employee size is 3,600. Interviewing was conducted in the respondents'' native language at the Taylor Nelson Sofres international telephone unit in London, UK.

3. The results of the very first edition of the Monitor were published in spring 1992, the second in autumn 1992, and then annually each autumn thereafter. All these results are available at a specially created website,
www.ebm.ups.com. The results for the twelfth edition will be available online from January 2003.

4. The annual UPS Europe Business Monitor was founded by UPS in 1992 to provide a fresh view of business opinion throughout Europe. As the largest
package and document delivery company in the world, delivering more than 13.6 million packages daily, UPS is a key facilitator of global trade. The results of the survey serve to provide UPS, its customers, and anyone else
interested in economic information with an insight into the latest conditions, trends and obstacles predicted to influence businesses in Europe as they interact in the global market place.

5. UPS employs 360,000 employees throughout the world and in 2001 generated revenues of US$30.3 billion.