Despite the doom and gloom brought on by the Eurozone crisis, the UK jobs market showed signs of stabilising in October, according to Adecco.

Despite a marked slowing in the decline of advertised job volumes compared to previous months, advertised permanent roles, in particular, showed signs of levelling out, signalling that despite economic uncertainty, businesses still have hiring needs, says the company.

Steven Kirkpatrick, managing director, Adecco, says: “Despite the ongoing Eurozone crisis and the threat of a double-dip recession in the UK becoming ever more real, it is encouraging to see the jobs market start to level out as it has this month.

“While employers are still being cautious, confidence appears to be building, albeit very gradually. A slowing in the decline in availability of permanent roles suggests that companies are starting to think about their future prospects and plans for growth. This positive, forward-thinking outlook is crucial to boost the UK economy and drag it back from the brink of recession.

“Temporary roles are showing greater decline than permanent roles in almost all sectors, which may be a result of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) coming into effect on 1 October.

“While there is no need for the legislation to cause employers any alarm, many companies had buried their heads in the sand in the run up to its introduction and may have found themselves unprepared.

“These businesses may have eased off on hiring agency workers whilst ensuring that they are compliant with the new rules. However, we expect that in the run up to Christmas, the availability of temporary contracts will increase sharply to fill essential seasonal roles.”

According to an Adecco statement, the IT sector is currently performing strongest. The statement continues: “While volumes of permanent roles remain in decline, this is marginal, and temporary roles are showing tentative growth. This bucks the trend for temporary jobs, which are still showing decline in all other sectors.

“The banking, insurance and finance sector is also making progress. Although advertised job volumes are still decreasing, this decline has slowed considerably since last month, suggesting that the market may have cut back sufficiently to ward off further reductions.”