Recovery in recruitment industry to become more ‘broadly based’, says expert
11 June 2014
The strengthening of the UK as indicated by a raft of figures published today should enable the recovery in the recruitment industry to become more broadly based, according to an economist specialising in the recruitment sector.
Wed, 11 Jun 2014
The strengthening of the UK as indicated by a raft of figures published today should enable the recovery in the recruitment industry to become more broadly based, according to an economist specialising in the recruitment sector.
Commenting on today’s figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that showed the number of people in work rose by 345,000 in the quarter to March, compared to the previous quarter, to reach 30.54m, Sue Dodd, director of Agile Intelligence, tells Recruiter that the rise in the numbers in work was “not just in accountants and IT but across the board”, adding “this should enable the recovery of the recruitment industry to broaden”.
“I think it is really positive,” continues Dodd. “It suggests the temporary market is rising as much as the perm market. We know the latter is the case from [staffing industry] company results.”
Across the economy as a whole, the ONS says the number of vacancies rose by 39,000 in the three months to May to reach 637,000.
Dodd says the standout sectors were manufacturing, where vacancies were 6.6% higher, admin and support, which were up 9.6%, and wholesale and retail, which had 3.7% more vacancies.
With the number of people in work now standing at 30.54m, the number officially out of work in the UK fell by 161,000 to 2.16m in the three months to April, with the unemployment rate falling to 6.6%.
Meanwhile, economic think tank the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said that the continuing recovery meant that the UK economy was now above its high point before the recession. The NIESR said that the UK economy grew by 0.9% in the three months to May, meaning that it was now 0.2% above its previous high point in January 2008.
NIESR’s analysis comes as further official figures from the ONS shows that UK manufacturing rose by 4.4% in the year ended April 2014. “Britain’s factories are booming,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at economics consultancy Markit.
Commenting on the unemployment figures, John Salt, website director of totaljobs.com, says: “Today’s announcement shows that businesses are feeling more confident than ever about taking on new staff. The government now needs to follow through on promises made in the Queen’s Speech to introduce measures that will help people find stable employment rather than temporary ‘quick fix’ roles.”
Charles Levy, senior economist at The Work Foundation, Lancaster University, adds: “Today’s figures from the ONS show that our economy is continuing to recover strongly. [The employment increase] is the largest three-month absolute increase since comparable records began in 1971.”
Commenting on today’s figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that showed the number of people in work rose by 345,000 in the quarter to March, compared to the previous quarter, to reach 30.54m, Sue Dodd, director of Agile Intelligence, tells Recruiter that the rise in the numbers in work was “not just in accountants and IT but across the board”, adding “this should enable the recovery of the recruitment industry to broaden”.
“I think it is really positive,” continues Dodd. “It suggests the temporary market is rising as much as the perm market. We know the latter is the case from [staffing industry] company results.”
Across the economy as a whole, the ONS says the number of vacancies rose by 39,000 in the three months to May to reach 637,000.
Dodd says the standout sectors were manufacturing, where vacancies were 6.6% higher, admin and support, which were up 9.6%, and wholesale and retail, which had 3.7% more vacancies.
With the number of people in work now standing at 30.54m, the number officially out of work in the UK fell by 161,000 to 2.16m in the three months to April, with the unemployment rate falling to 6.6%.
Meanwhile, economic think tank the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said that the continuing recovery meant that the UK economy was now above its high point before the recession. The NIESR said that the UK economy grew by 0.9% in the three months to May, meaning that it was now 0.2% above its previous high point in January 2008.
NIESR’s analysis comes as further official figures from the ONS shows that UK manufacturing rose by 4.4% in the year ended April 2014. “Britain’s factories are booming,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at economics consultancy Markit.
Commenting on the unemployment figures, John Salt, website director of totaljobs.com, says: “Today’s announcement shows that businesses are feeling more confident than ever about taking on new staff. The government now needs to follow through on promises made in the Queen’s Speech to introduce measures that will help people find stable employment rather than temporary ‘quick fix’ roles.”
Charles Levy, senior economist at The Work Foundation, Lancaster University, adds: “Today’s figures from the ONS show that our economy is continuing to recover strongly. [The employment increase] is the largest three-month absolute increase since comparable records began in 1971.”
