As the number of employers looking to recruit increases, more and more are turning to the Internet to advertise jobs according to a new report from Jobcentre Plus.

The annual survey of over 4,500 employers indicates that over a quarter of British businesses (604,000) were on the look out to hire new staff last year.  The survey indicates that in 2006, 27% of businesses were actively recruiting new staff with 25% of all filled job vacancies advertised online.

The proportion of overall vacancies now being advertised through the Internet has increased to 16% from 12% in 2004, with one in every eight employers surveyed confirming they had used Internet websites to advertise a vacancy in the last 12 months.
This online trend is also being reflected by jobseekers themselves. In a single week in June, the Jobcentre Plus website(www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk) experienced a record 6.6 million job searches conducted by nearly 2.2 million online jobseekers.

Caroline Flint, Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, said: "Employment in the UK continues to show sustained growth. However, if we are to meet our aim of achieving 80% employment we need to work harder still to support more people back into work. Yesterday we published our green paper on In Work, Better Off which sets out the steps to achieving full employment. That included our commitment to new Local Employment Partnerships through which major employers across all key sectors have pledged to create 250,000 jobs to support some of the hardest to help into work.

"Jobcentre Plus plays a crucial role working with employers to fill vacancies by identifying the right people with the right skills."