UK online job recruitment activity has shown general upward growth this year, but manufacturing and retail continue to suffer, according to a new employment research tool.

Launched last Wednesday, the European Monster Employment Index counts online recruitment activity from more than 1,400 sites in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Research staff at Monster Worldwide, the parent company of global recruitment website Monster, have been compiling the data for the last six months.

The index is aimed to help recruiters track regional and national online job-demand and hiring trends.

Taking 100 as a base number, the UK index was just 91 in January, rising to 104 in March and dropping slightly to 103 in May.

The index has tracked a steady increase in demand for armed forces staff in the UK, rising to 110 in May from just 96 in January.

However, there has been a marked drop in demand for retail workers, with the May index showing 100, compared to 107 in February.

Manufacturing has also suffered. The demand for plant operators and assemblers has fallen from 106 in March to just 95 in May.

Andrew Wilkinson, CEO for Monster Worldwide, Europe, said: “We are confident the Monster Employment Index UK will prove to be a reliable, leading job-market indicator for the UK and provide government officials, economists and other labour-market watchers with valuable insight into broader recruitment and hiring trends.”

Monster Worldwide intends to release the figures on the second Tuesday of each month.

Recruiters can sign up to the Monster Employment Index at eIndex.monsterworldwide.com.