The Monster Employment Index UK increased slightly last month, indicating unexpected resilience in the jobs market following the recent financial turmoil.
The upturn halted a four-month decline with the index rising by two points in October to reach a level of 161 (where 100 equals no change).
The index is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across the UK.
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Online job availability rose most in the healthcare, social work and education sectors, and there were moderate increases in banking, finance and insurance and engineering. In contrast, there was a marked decline in demand for workers in architecture, construction and HR.
“Although the recent financial crisis adds uncertainty to an already weak economic outlook and job offerings in some sectors are declining significantly, the October index also shows areas of sustained high demand such as engineering, education and healthcare,” said Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide.
