The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Rightmove positive
THERE HAS been a dramatic drop in the number of people in Dundee seeking work through recruitment agencies, a new report has said.
The latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs for November, published today, suggests the labour market in Scotland is recovering, albeit slowly.
It revealed a significant rise in the number of permanent and temporary staff placements by recruitment firms across Scotland last month.
Last week it was revealed that unemployment in Scotland fell by 19,000 between August and October this year, although around 204,000 Scots remain out of work.
Scotland’s jobless rate now stands at 7.6%, lower than the UK rate of 7.4%.
According to the Bank of Scotland report, recruitment agencies are also now seeing a huge rise in demand for staff.
Permanent placements rose for the third month in succession while temporary placements rose for the fifth month in a row
owever, the report noted that recruitment agencies in Dundee have reported the biggest drop in the number of job seekers hoping to find work through their services.
The city also recorded the greatest rise in the number of temporary placements.
Permanent placings rose at their fastest rate in Edinburgh.
It states: “The strongest deteriorations in both permanent and temporary candidate availability were posted in Dundee.”
Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, said: “Conditions in the Scottish labour market improved in November, with the barometer increasing to a seven-month high.
“Both the number of people appointed to jobs and the number of job vacancies rose in the month. Despite the economic slowdown, employers continue to hire, suggesting a confidence.”
The report also found that permanent salaries rose for the second month running in November, while hourly pay rates for temporary workers also went up.
Average salaries rose across the UK and now stand at a 14-month high.
The Bank of Scotland’s employment barometer — a measurement of how
rising
trend
in
business Scotland’s jobs market is performing — rose to 54.9, its highest reading since April.
Seven sectors saw a rise in permanent job vacancies in November, with IT and computing recording the greatest monthly rise. The only sector where there was a fall in the number of vacancies was in the blue collar, manual labour sector. Rightmove has forecast a positive outlook for the housing market next year, predicting a 2% increase in asking prices.
In spite of the largest monthly fall ever recorded, during November, the firm saw signs of improvement over the year.