Overall PR leaders are content or optimistic for the future of their own consultancy, with 63% of consultancies enjoying a quarter where they were busy or very busy with new business. However, respondents believe that the economic future of the PR industry as a whole is likely to worsen, according to the PRCA Trends Barometer, 3rd quarter 2011.

PRCA Chief Executive, Francis Ingham, says there is much to take heart from in the PRCA Q3 barometer. "These are results that would make many industries jealous," he says.

“There is, though, a clear area of concern. When asked about their own consultancy's prospects, an encouraging picture emerges. When asked about other people's prospects, a discouraging and threatening one is clear. That sense of 'we're ok, but I'm not sure about everybody else' is clear throughout the industry. From speaking with consultancies and in-house PRCA members alike, there is a palpable lack of confidence in the country's economic prospects, and that sense is affecting business decisions. The obvious danger is that we talk ourselves into a second round of recession.”

The survey also revealed that 33% of the PR agencies asked will be using freelancers more than they did during the previous quarter, while 14% of PR agencies will be using them less (and the remaining 53% using freelancers to the same extent as in last quarter).