New job opportunities across the UK have bucked the negative economic news and risen to their highest level for nearly two years, according to the Reed Job Index for November.
The new research found that employer demand for new staff is a third higher than it was 23 months ago, and 20% higher than the same time last year.
The Index, which is compiled by reed.co.uk through analysis of job advertisement trends from over 9,000 recruiters throughout the UK, rose to 133 in November.
Reed said that this built on the growth in employer demand seen in October’s Index, and shows new job opportunities at their highest level since the Index was started in December 2009.
The growth in new jobs was led by London, the South East and the North West, and has risen in more than half of the UK areas analysed by the Index.
However growth hasn’t been uniform, and five out of the 12 areas – including Wales, the North East of England and Scotland – showed falls in employer demand during the month.
At the same time, Reed said that increased employer demand had spread right across a wide variety of private sector jobs, led by technical roles such as engineering and IT alongside service sector roles such as accountancy, leisure and tourism.
In contrast, public sector recruitment had fallen back 6 points (5%) in November compared to October, to give a subdued Reed Public Sector Job Index level of 60 Index points.
James Reed, chairman of reed.co.uk’s parent company Reed Global, said: “The latest Reed Job Index shows that confidence about the future has continued to increase right across the private sector, in spite of last week’s gloomy economic pronouncements.
“Caution remains, with salaries for new jobs staying low, and growth more patchy outside the regional powerhouses of London, the South East and North West. Only fools forecast, and increasing turmoil in the Eurozone makes us all wary of plotting a clear path forwards. At the same time the Reed Job Index has proved to be a reliable leading economic indicator, and certainly demonstrates that the underlying appetite for growth across the private sector is at a higher level than some commentators believe.”
