The number of permanent staff placements increased in Scotland in February. Image courtesy of: hisks/rgbstock.com
The latest
Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs indicated a further improvement in Scottish labour market conditions in February.
The number of candidates placed into permanent and temporary work both increased, with growth strong and faster than that reported across the UK overall. Firms generally attributed the increase in staff placements to greater client demand.
Concurrently, average permanent salaries increased in February, albeit modestly, while permanent candidate availability rose for the first time in four months.
The Bank of Scotland
Labour Market Barometer – a composite indicator designed to provide a single figure snapshot of labour market conditions – registered 52.4 in February, signalling a solid improvement in Scotland’s job market. Moreover, up from 50.4 in January, the Barometer indicated the strongest improvement since last October.
Donald MacRae, Chief Economist at Bank of Scotland, commented: "Scotland’s labour market showed an important improvement in February. Not only did the number of people placed into jobs rise, but salaries for permanent jobs increased at a modest rate.
“The number of vacancies for permanent jobs increased to a four-month high. The deterioration evident from April last year appears to have been arrested at the beginning of this year. This latest barometer reading suggests the Scottish economy is continuing a slow recovery from recession rather than lapsing back into recession."
The news follows official figures released last week that revealed unemployment across the whole of the UK had
increased by 28,000 between November and January, to a 17-year high of 2.7 million.