Appointments rose at a slower rate in March 2011 according to REC & KPMG

Key Points:

  • Permanent staff placements eased in March following February’s 10 month high
  • Agency Billings from temporary & contract assignments increase at a slower pace than February
  • Permanent vacancies rose at the fastest pace since April 2010
  • Temporary & Contract vacancies rose at the fastest pace since July 2007
  • Permanent salary inflation accelerated to the highest rate for 8 months
  • Temporary & Contract worker availability rose at the slowest pace since August 2010

The Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, Kevin Green, said that “The jobs market is still growing but at a slower rate than in February. The report again highlights that the UK has a two-speed labour market with the private sector creating jobs as the public sector reduces employment. The good news is that vacancies are rising at their highest rate since April last year and March is the eighteenth consecutive month that vacancies have grown. This demonstrates increasing demand for new staff from private sector businesses. What is concerning is the increase in starting salaries for permanent staff which is due to two factors. Firstly, people changing jobs are clearly looking for higher pay to compensate for inflation and secondly, the growing competition for quality candidates in some sectors such as IT, engineering and finance. Whilst it’s important to reward quality candidates appropriately it’s important that this trend doesn’t limit opportunities for job creation or hinder business growth in the future.”

The Head of Business Services at KPMG, Bernard Brown, also said “The UK jobs market continued to expand in March albeit at a slower pace. The latest figures show that the job market recovery remains volatile. Some private sector employers are hiring again but at the moment not in numbers sufficient enough to absorb the job losses in the public sector. The challenge going forward will be to transform our public sector services – and create the private sector jobs of the future. For the Government, this will mean speeding up private sector investment into the provision of public services to mitigate the cuts and job losses we are experiencing across the public sector.”

Commonwealth Contractors

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