reed.co.uk - Job Demand Slips Back in July While Salaries Edge Up

LONDON, August 2, 2011 -

Employer demand for new UK workers slipped down three index points (- 2%) in July compared to June, giving a Reed Job Index reading of 122

New job demand dropped back across a range of job sectors, including Accountancy, Financial Services and Customer Service, while Banking jobs continued their five month decline from February’s high point. Demand for new Public Sector staff remained flat, close to half its level when the Index began.

However, other sectors bucked the trend, led by the Retail Jobs Index which reached a record high of 152, supported by rising demand for Leisure & Tourism staff. Indicators of future economic growth were seen across industrial as well as business service sector jobs with rising demand for IT & Telecoms, Motoring & Automotive, Purchasing, Transport & Logistics, Construction and Human Resources staff in July.

Overall year-on-year employer demand is up 20 points compared to July last year, and is 22 per cent above the level of December 2009 when the reed job Index’s baseline was set at 100, according to the report compiled by the recruitment website reed.co.uk.

Salaries for new jobs edged up one point to give an overall Reed Salary Index reading of 99, with salaries increasing further across a range of areas including Accountancy, Hospitality & Catering and Sales.

Across the UK the picture was mixed. The dip in demand in London and the South East led the overall fall, and was echoed in East Anglia, the North East and Northern Ireland. In spite of this, job demand increased in Yorkshire & Humberside, Scotland, Wales and the South West, while employer demand for new staff reached its highest level in the East Midlands since the Reed Job Index began 19 months ago.    

Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk, comments on the Reed Job Index for July: 

“Economic confidence at the start of the third quarter appears to have flattened out, according to the latest Reed Job Index figures. There is residual fragility in the economy which has dampened demand for new staff and continues to restrain salaries.

“However job demand is still 20 per cent up on this time last year and July’s figures include other positive indications for the future. New jobs increased in key sectors from IT and Telecoms to Construction jobs and the car industry, which looks promising for long term growth, while the 19-month high in retail recruitment suggests employers believe consumer confidence is set to rise.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

• Each month the Reed Job Index tracks the number of new job opportunities and the salaries on offer compared to the previous month and against a baseline of 100 set in December last year.  The Reed Job Index is based on data from the UK’s largest job board, reed.co.uk, which every day lists over 90,000 job opportunities from 8,000 recruiters across 37 career sectors throughout the UK.

• The Reed Job Index is compiled by data drawn from on-line job vacancies and job-seeker activity on reed.co.uk.  

• reed.co.uk is the UK’s largest commercial job board, with over 90,000 job opportunities from more than 8,000 recruiters at any one time.

• Independent measurement by Hitwise verifies that reed.co.uk has the highest market share of visits for any commercial job board in the UK

• reed.co.uk is part of Reed Global, the international recruitment group of companies

For further information (including exclusive quotes, in-depth statistics and trend data) please contact Katy Nicholson for reed.co.uk at katynicholson88@googlemail.com or call +44(0)7712-873780

Address - Dragon Court, 28 Macklin Street, London, WC2B 5LX

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