Comment from Reed on ONS Labour Market Statistics

Comment from Reed on ONS Labour Market Statistics

Tom Lovell, group managing director at the specialist recruitment consultancy, Reed, said:

“The ONS figures show that the second half of 2010 was a challenging period, but it’s important to note that this data focuses on the three months to November and the employment market has moved on since then. This was the period that immediately followed the Spending Review and the mood has definitely improved in the last couple of months.

“We have specialist teams working across all sectors of the market and the year has started positively. We have seen increased activity for permanent roles, with recruitment up in terms of the number of candidates places, as well as the number of interviews arranged. Temporary recruitment has also increased significantly compared to the levels seen this time last year.”

“The latest Reed Job Index found that year on year employer demand for new staff is up four % compared to December 2009, with salaries for new jobs increasing, reversing their seven-month slump from May to November last year. We are seeing particularly strong recruitment in a number of sectors, including transport, business consultancy, IT, media and marketing and banking.”