Scotland saw the sharpest rise in demand for permanent staff in two and a half years in April as the recovery in Scotland’s labour market continued, according to the latest Bank of Scotland ‘Report on Jobs’.

Staff appointments in both the permanent and temporary sectors rose at strong rates, with appointments to permanent jobs increased for the seventh consecutive month. Vacancy growth also accelerated.

At the same time, however, the number of candidates available to take up positions continued to climb, a clear sign of continued labour market slack.

The Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer — a composite indicator designed to provide a single figure snapshot of labour market conditions — highlighted the generally improving trend, posting the highest reading since the start of 2008.

Nevertheless, at 54.3 from 54.2, the barometer signalled a pace of improvement that was below that seen across the UK as a whole, as has been the case in each of the past 14 months.

Scotland UK*

Apr’09         31.3                 33.3

May             34.8                 35.5

Jun              37.0                 38.9

Jul               39.4                 40.2

Aug             40.2                 43.1

Sep              44.1                 46.3

Oct               46.2                 48.5

Nov              49.6                 52.8

Dec              51.6                 54.8

Jan’10         52.0                 55.1

Feb               52.9                 56.5

Mar               54.2                 56.5

Apr                54.3                 56.9

50 = no change on previous month.

*KPMG/REC Report on Jobs