Contractors seeking contracts in Scotland’s gaming and financial sector centres of excellence are enjoying a renaissance in demand for their services, alongside increased rates, particularly in the UK video games capital of Dundee,
Less positive, but certainly not less surprising, is the continued decline in the fortunes of oil and gas contractors in Aberdeen. Demand for both contractors and permanent employees have slumped in the city.
This is according to the latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs for July 2015, which reported an increase in contractor agency billings in Scotland for the sixth successive month.
“Scotland’s labour market continued to improve in July. The number of people appointed to both permanent and temporary jobs rose in the month,” highlights Donald MacRae, Chief Economist at the Bank of Scotland. “These results show an economy demonstrating both confidence and growth in the second half of 2015.”
July also witnessed the fastest increase in contractor vacancies since January 2015. And in keeping with recent trends, contractor availability in Scotland continued to struggle to match demand, with numbers declining for the twenty-seventh successive month in July.
“Overall, this report reflects an ever-improving market for contractors, with contractor agency billings and contractor demand continuing to rise. Meanwhile, the gap between demand and availability continues to prove that there are plenty of gaps to fill for any UK contractors short of work,” highlights ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin.
The core contracting disciplines of engineering & construction and IT & computing dominated the tops spots in the demand league table, in second and third place respectively behind the hotel and catering sector.
The report noted that “accounts and financial saw a solid rise in temp offerings with the rate of growth unchanged from the month before”. It is therefore surprising that this category was only in sixth place in the league table and only a few points into growth territory, despite the financial centres of both Edinburgh and Glasgow showing sharp falls in availability usually indicative of strong hiring.
The strong performance of IT & computing is consistent with the regional data that showed Dundee leading both the growth in contractor agency billings and the most marked increased in contractor rates.
However, once again, Scotland’s interim market remains in the doldrums for yet another month, with the executive and professional category showing no growth.