Scottish firms optimistic as advertised jobs and salaries show progress in Q2

● Comes despite political uncertainty and with notable growth in Aberdeen

Businesses in Scotland remained confident in the second quarter, with a widespread increase in job vacancies and advertised salaries, although there was less optimism among candidates, new data has found.

Independent job board Cvlibrary has reported that the number of jobs being advertised grew by about 20 per cent from the same period in 2016, and by 6.8 per cent from the prior quarter.

The organisation noted that the increases came despite growing uncertainty in the run-up to last month’s snap general election.

It also reported “impressive” job growth in many Scottish cities, with Glasgow seeing the biggest year-on-year increase of any UK city at 26.4 per cent.

Additionally, Aberdeen (17.8 per cent), Dundee (16.6 per cent) and Edinburgh (5.2 per cent) also showed considerable improvement on the yearago quarter.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of Cvlibrary, said: “It’s great to see that businesses across Scotland are continuing to invest in growing their workforce.”

He added that it is “particularly positive to see such a high year-on-year jump in job vacancies across the country, as it plays such an important part in the economy.

“This year-on-year growth is especially impressive, given that during the same period last year the Brexit backlash was yet to hit, suggesting businesses in the region are remaining confident.”

Advertised salaries rose across Scotland, increasing by 2 per cent from the second quarter of 2016 and showing a 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter jump, with Edinburgh (6.2 per cent), Dundee (1.2 per cent) and Aberdeen (0.3 per cent) mirroring this trend. Aberdeen was one of the few UK cities to see a quarterly increase of 15 per cent.

However, the picture regarding application rates north of the Border was not so positive, down by 6.9 per cent when comparing year-on-year data, and by 10 per cent when comparing quarter-on-quarter. However, there was a 2 per cent year-on-year increase in applications in Glasgow.

Biggins said the growth in advertised salaries reinforces high business confidence in the last quarter, and suggests firms are jostling to offer the most competitive packages.

“However, it’s clear that candidates are not reciprocating this confidence, with application rates dropping across Scotland. As the dust settles on the recent election, we hope to see candidate appetite pick back up — especially given that there are some great opportunities across the country.”