Employment figures ‘showing signs of improvement’

Employment figures have shown some good signs of improving in the last three months, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

Speaking at the group’s first annual conference, Kevin Green, chief executive at the REC, said the organisation was starting to see growth in employment.

However, he added that the UK was in for a slow recovery period of about three years.

"Confidence is just starting to deploy. Employers are starting to think about strategic buyers, they’re starting to say: ‘Maybe we will start to think about lifting the recruitment freeze’," Mr Green asserted.

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His comments come as recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that during the three months to September 2009, there was the smallest quarterly increase in unemployment rates since the start of the recession.

Meanwhile, according to the Confederation of British Industry and Harvey Nash, the number of firms operating a recruitment freeze has dropped from 61 per cent in the spring to 37 per cent at present.