Despite the recent announcement that the UK has sunk back into recession, the job market is holding steady, with an 11% increase in the number of general staffing vacancies advertised in April compared to the previous month. This data, from the UK’s largest recruiter Adecco, reflects ONS’s recent statistics on the labour market, which show a rise in employment over the first quarter of the year.
Across the wider jobs market the Banking, Insurance and Finance sector and the Legal sector are leading the charge, showing growth in the number of permanent vacancies advertised. These areas have also performed particularly well with regards to temporary roles, with advertised vacancies increasing 9% and 6% respectively month-on-month.
Permanent opportunities in Telecoms, Engineering and HR have fared less well, all seeing small declines compared to last month. As far as temporary vacancies are concerned, HR, which looks to have hit a peak at the end of 2012, and Retail have also seen a noticeable decline. However, it is anticipated that Retail will see a summer pick up as we approach the holiday season and the onset of London 2012. Meanwhile, the Public Sector also saw a further fall in advertised temporary vacancies following a short-lived increase in March.
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Steven Kirkpatrick, Managing Director, Adecco, said:
“While the economy continues to struggle, our data shows that the number of advertised general staffing vacancies is holding steady, and even showing growth. While UK businesses are still behaving cautiously, these figures suggest that the announcement of a double dip recession has not had a deeply negative impact on overall hiring levels.
“Businesses have been living with the effects of recession for a long time now, and it seems that they have found an equilibrium which gives them the confidence to manage their investment in staff and continue to hire despite the turbulent economic conditions. However, only time will tell how the formal announcement of the double dip recession will affect these confidence levels.”
