Job opportunities in steep rise, although salaries stay flat
25/03/2011
Job opportunities across the country rose sharply in January, up 9 Index points compared to December, according to the report from Britain’s largest recruitment website, reed.co.uk. Employer demand rebounded from pre-Christmas lows to give a Reed Job Index reading of 113, the highest since the Index began.Employer demand has risen 13% since December 2009, when the Index’s baseline was set at 100. Private sector growth is responsible for this increase, as new public sector jobs remain at less than half their level of a year ago.
Seventeen different job sectors from across all areas of the private sector recorded their highest levels since the Index started. High-points were reached in industrial sectors such as Engineering, Construction, Manufacturing and Scientific, financial and service sectors such as Banking, Accountancy, IT, Administration and Transport, and in growth-support sectors such as Sales, Marketing and HR. In contrast, while the Reed Public Sector Job Index rose one per cent compared to the prior month, it remained close to pre-Christmas lows to read 43.
Job demand rose across the UK, with the regional Reed Job Index above 100 in every area of Britain for the first time since the Index began. Previously struggling regions such as North East England and the West Midlands have more than 20% more jobs on offer now than when the Index started in December 2009.
Yet salaries for new jobs stayed flat, to give a Reed Salary Index reading of 99. New salaries on offer are down 1% in real terms since December 2009, lagging further behind rising inflation. Real-term salary increases appear in just 10 out of the 35 job sectors analysed, with the job sector Salary Indexes only edging above 100 in areas such as Retail, Training, Banking, Hospitality, Marketing and Accountancy.
www.reed.co.uk
