A rise in unemployment in Sussex has had little effect on the opportunities available in the county's job market.
In Brighton and Hove, the number of people looking for work continued to fall last month, bucking the national trend.
Department of Employment figures show the number of people out of work at 5,025 (up 291) in East Sussex and 4,802 (up 892) in West Sussex.
The stock market slide has had little impact on jobs in the county and confidence among employers is strong but cautious.
Last week, insurance giant Royal and Sun Alliance announced 200 redundancies at its Horsham head office and Burgess Hill-based telecoms firm Ericsson is also cutting back.
But other firms are recruiting strongly and complain of a lack of skilled engineers and computer programmers.
Varian Medical Systems, a leader in the fight against cancer, is one of the heathcare companies taking on staff in the north of the county. Along the coast American Express, Lloyds TSB and NTL are all recruiting for their call centres.
The Rolls-Royce assembly plant at Goodwood will will become fully operational in November. A range of skilled people are being recruited and training is under way.
Neil Quarendon, operations director for the Crawley office of accountancy and insurance recruitment group Alexander Lloyd, reported a 31 per cent monthly increase in the number of temporary jobs notified. New job registration for permanent workers were up ten per cent.
He said: "The overall number of vacancies is still quite high.
"This is a good sign for business generally in the South-East, whatever may be happening elsewhere."
Not put off by the gloomy economic outlook for the UK, the county is still seen as a good place to start a new business by many entrepreneurs.
Sussex Enterprise has responded to increased interest in start-up opportunities by reviewing its strategy.
The business support organisation is looking for feedback from organisations involved in advising start-ups so it can provide the most up-to-date information..
Banks, local councils and estate agents are being asked to comment through the Sussex Enterprise web site.
The feedback will form part of a review and will become part of Sussex Enterprise's new Start-Up Strategy for Sussex.
New figures from the organisation show signs of growth in the number of small businesses in the Brighton, Hove and Lewes areas.
Marketing head Matt Jackson said: "Nationally and locally there is an encouraging growth in business start-ups.
"Sussex Enterprise and our enterprise agency partners are here to help new businesses."
Jane North, chief executive of Brighton, Hove and Lewes Enterprise Agency, said: "This extremely positive trend suggests a growing feeling of optimism.
"These statistics speak for themselves as evidence of the significant entrepreneurial spirit in the area, and the value placed on the services of the agency by start-ups and existing small business."
New businesses started with the help of the agency were up from 68 in 2000/01 to 89 in 2001/02, an increase of 14 per cent in just one year.
She added: "This shows that entrepreneurs success stories are on the increase in the area."
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