LONDON: Employment rates in Scotland remain above the rest of the U.K, according to a survey by Bank of Scotland. The labour market conditions have shown improvement for the 28th month in a row, and above the U.K. average for the seventh month in a row.
The bank, which published the findings in its monthly labour market report, said the number of permanent jobs in November increased at its fastest rate since the survey began in 2002. The availability of jobs pushed starting salaries to a new high, the survey added.
The jobless too grew slightly in number -- by 100 -- to 85,900 in November, just 3,3 per cent of the working population. It is less by 4,200 overall for October last year.
The study said the permanent job market had been buoyant in all the Scottish cities. The strongest was Glasgow. Aberdeen had the distinction of having the biggest pay growth.
The bank's chief economist, Martin Ellis, said permanent staff hiring picked up to the strongest yet recorded by the survey, reflecting high business confidence, with robust growth in jobs putting upwards pressure on salaries.
The study said the employment barometer showed a reading of 60.5 for November, up from 58 in October. A score above 50 indicates improvement.
The data for the study is gathered from more than100 recruitment and employment consultancies.
One trend in the survey has been that temporary and contract posts eased to a 10-month low, which the authors of the study said is because employers preferred to appoint permanent staff where possible. The highest demand for the permanent category has been for executive and professional employees.
Posted
on : Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:05 GMT | General News
By : Anne Philips
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