Recruitment prospects are picking up across the private sector, particularly for professional and highly-skilled staff, according to a survey by the Harvey Nash and the CBI.

The latest ‘CBI/Harvey Nash Survey, Navigating Choppy Waters’, shows that the private sector is seeing job prospects pick up as the economy strengthens, while the public sector is scaling back recruitment as the government’s austerity measures start to bite.

Across the economy, the survey, conducted between March and April shows that 29% of employers plan to increase permanent recruitment in the next six months either across or in parts of their organisations.

With the public sector now taking steps to cut costs, the number of recruitment and pay freezes across the economy has risen: recruitment freezes rose slightly to 9%.

Albert Ellis, chief executive of Harvey Nash, says: “While the public sector is reining in recruitment plans, private sector employment is growing slowly but steadily.

“People with higher level skills, professional, technical and sales experience are most in demand, as these are critical roles for firms seeking to capitalise on growth opportunities.”

Ellis adds that social media was driving a lot of recruitment, with smaller start-up companies beginning to prosper.

He says there is now real evidence of public sector staff moving into the private sector. He doesn’t see this as an issue, as many public sector staff are highly educated and skilled, and many have previously worked in the private sector.

However, he adds: “The big challenge for the government will be ensuring that public sector workers have the right skills and commercial attitude to move with ease to other roles in the private sector.

“The manufacturing sector has been enjoying particularly strong growth and is a recruitment hotspot, as is the whole area of smart phone software application development. This is reflected in the fact that a third of employers in manufacturing are planning more generous pay rises. The outlook for graduate recruitment is also brightning, though competition for jobs remains very high.”

John Cridland, CBI director-general, says: “The pay and recruitment freezes that were commonplace in the private sector during the depths of the recession have now migrated to the public sector. However, we remain confident that private sector growth can more than compensate for job losses in the public sector.”

Further key points emerging from the survey:

· 29% of all employers plan to increase permanent recruitment in the next six months either across or in parts of their organisations, while a quarter (26%) expect no change to their level of recruitment

· openings for temporary staff are increasing modestly with a balance of +7% of firms anticipating recruitment compared to those expecting a reduction

· job prospects are slowly improving for graduates, with the overall balance between firms expecting higher and lower graduate recruitment at +9%.