Contractor vacancies, rates and recruitment agency billings in Scotland all increased during February 2014. Demand growth “showed a sharp and slightly accelerated increase”, and was the most marked since November 2013.
The latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs also showed that the Labour Market Barometer, an index that provides a snapshot of the Scottish labour market’s general health, was at the second highest point in the its history.
According to the report, February’s figure is “just below the June 2007’s survey record”, suggesting that Scotland’s labour market is nearing the same conditions as at its pre-recession peak.
“February’s Barometer reached 63.9 – the second highest in eleven years of the survey – amid a continued surge in demand for staff,” says Bank of Scotland chief economist Donald MacRae. “The number of people appointed to both permanent and temporary jobs rose sharply.”
Accounts and financial was the best performing of the core contracting disciplines, rising to third place in the demand league table from fourth place in January. Alongside the fact that Edinburgh showed the fastest rise in contractor agency billings and contracting rate growth, this suggests the continuing recovery of Scotland’s financial sector.
IT & Computing fell two places from second to fourth, and engineering and construction rose two places from seventh to fifth. Executive and professional was in seventh place, down from fifth the previous month.
Despite these shifts, all contracting sectors were strongly in growth territory, and falling a place or two down the demand table merely signifies a slowing of demand growth, and not an actual contraction in demand.
Geographically, the other area of interest was Aberdeen, which is “where the most acute fall in temp candidate numbers was…recorded”. This points to further contractor hiring activity in the oil and gas sector, soaking up available workers in Europe’s oil and gas capital.
MacRae concludes: “Business confidence is clearly increasing among Scottish firms. These results show the recovery in the Scottish economy continuing into 2014 and becoming more established with every month.”