The
UK’s drift towards white collar jobs has been confirmed by the latest survey
from recruitment specialists Adecco.
And
while white collar jobs are generating rises in salaries above inflation, wages
for industrial positions are beginning to fall behind, according to Adecco’s
Salary Survey 2004.
The
findings show:
•
The top jobs for salary rises over the year were specialist accountants, team
secretaries and junior secretaries
•
Specialist accounts clerks top the scale for salary rises, with an increase of
12 per cent in average salary since 2003
•
Commercial positions, such as personal assistants, office managers, accountants
or secretaries saw average rises in salary of 4 per cent across all sectors
apart from salesÂ
•
Forklift truck drivers and warehouse operatives lead the way in the industrial
sector with pay rises of 3 per cent.
Adecco’s
managing director Richard Macmillan said: "The UK market has for sometime
seen a trend towards the service sector. The rise in salaries of commercial
jobs this year is a reflection of a change in the labour market.
"Salaries
can rise for a variety of reasons, but there is a growing demand across the
country for skilled secretarial and accounts personnel," he said.
"This is not to say that the bottom is falling out of the industrial
sector, but salaries are not rising at quite the same level.
The
Salary Survey 2004 collects data on commercial and industrial positions from
Adecco’s 350 branches across the UK and Ireland. Salaries for various
positions, such as secretaries, drivers, office managers, accounts personnel or
warehouse operatives are compared on a yearly basis, with the companies
involved representing a cross section of UK industry.
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