ECONOMICALLY, 2009 was a year to forget.

According to figures compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), unemployment will have climbed to nearly three million by the end of 2010.

At least the same survey gave cause for cautious optimism.

A majority of private businesses in the North-East predicted that their business situation will improve or stay the same during the next year.

Encouragingly, the expectations for an improvement increase significantly with time. Sixty per cent of business leaders told PwC they expected things to be better by 2012.

The North has suffered setbacks before, not least when the mining industry collapsed, and bounced back.

Maybe it is something to do with the fabled northern grit.

This time a year ago, Nissan announced 1,200 redundancies at its factory in Sunderland because of the downturn.

A year later the future looks altogether brighter.

A new battery plant at the site will provide the power for a new generation of clean, green cars, which Sunderland also hopes to manufacture.

Many of the workers who were axed have been taken back on.

Things are also looking up for the Glaxo pharmaceuticals plant in Barnard Castle, which is at the forefront of the fight against swine flu.

In a year’s time, we hope we will be able to say the same of the Corus blast furnace on Teesside.

Whatever happens, we are confident that this region can face the future with optimism thanks entirely to its most important asset: the hard-working people who live here.