Demand
for staff picked up to its strongest rate for two-and-a-half year during
August.
Research
published by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and Deloitte &
Touche reveals that recruitment consultancies have reported their biggest
increase in permanent staff placements and temporary staff billing since the
first quarter of 2001.
The
Report on Jobs finds that increased staff placements were in part reflected in
a marginal increase in private sector staffing levels in August, which rose for
the first time since May 2001.
Increased
demand for staff resulted in a slight rise in salaries awarded to people placed
in permanent jobs for the first time in six months.
Commenting
on the report, Brett Walsh, head of UK human capital at Deloitte & Touche,
said: “The survey provides encouraging signs to suggest that, since the Iraq
war, the nascent economic recovery in the UK is looking more sustainable.
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“It
is evident that an increased number of employers returned to the recruitment
market in August to take advantage of good staff availability and relatively
subdued rates of growth of wages and salaries.”
