The recruitment market increased in value by 2.2% in 2006, according to The Recruitment Agencies (Permanent) Market Report 2007.

The report by Research and Markets, a resource for market research information, concluded that 2006 had continued to be a good year for recruitment, with growth proceeding at a steady pace.

Secretarial/clerical and computing/IT are the largest sectors, and represent nearly half of all appointments made. Following a drop in share in the previous year, the computing/IT sector became significant again in the year to March 2006.

The report forecasts that the market will increase in value by 2.1% in the year ending March 2007, after which steady year-on-year growth of between 2.1% and 2.8% will bring the total value of the market to 3.7bn by March 2011.

It says: “Given the immense activity in the market in 2006 and the continued demand for permanent staff predicted for 2007, these figures might seem modest. However, competition is severe and fee rates remain under pressure, so the value of assignments is unlikely to accelerate considerably in the near future.”