Member Article

Permanent job appointments stop growing in North

The number of full time job placements has picked up in April on a national level, but remained unchanged in the North.

According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG report on jobs, the availability of permanent workers in the North fell for the third month running, despite a rise in demand.

Temporary and contract staff billings rose across the month, as the supply of temporary staff also increased, although only slightly.

Permanent salaries in the North continued to grow, however, the pace of growth was the slowest in five months.

Northern recruitment consultants indicated that temporary worker salaries also rose, as across the UK, average hourly pay rates increased for the third successive month.

Mick Thompson, KPMG’s Newcastle office senior partner, comments: “The halt that April’s data brought to seven months of job growth in the North highlights the fragile nature of the economic recovery that has recently been hinted at.

“Thankfully, we can look to more positive national news on recruitment which suggests that the wider economy might be further along the growth curve than the local market.

“It is to be hoped therefore that last month’s flatlining proves to be nothing more serious than an April shower in the north.”

REC CEO Kevin Green says: “Demand in the economy is returning, slowly but surely. Businesses are feeling more confident, hence steady levels of people being placed into permanent jobs and rising in starting salaries across the north of England.

“Recruiters are reporting a renewed sense of purpose from their clients, with employers making hiring decisions more quickly than before. Highly skilled jobs like engineering and IT are still big growth areas, and the reports of shortages of people to fill sales vacancies show that companies are gearing up for increases in business investment and consumer spending.

“All the feedback from recruiters is that employers intend to continue to increase their use of flexible staffing in the months ahead.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .