But REC/KPMG also finds sharp decline in candidate availability
Entry salaries for permanent jobs have risen at their fastest rate for seven years, according to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG report on jobs.
However, the same was not true for temporary staff whose pay increased at the slowest rate for five months, report data showed.
The number of vacancies advertised is still growing with the pace of hiring rising in March and only just missing the 15-year high reached in January. But the research found that the number of candidates applying for these roles had fallen. Permanent staff availability dropped at its sharpest rate since October 2004, while the latest fall in temporary employee availability was the fastest in nearly 10 years.
Private sector demand for staff remained stronger than that in the public sector during March, while the quickest growth was in private sector permanent roles. Private sector temporary vacancies also recorded a strong rise. But while the level of public sector hires was lower overall than recruitment in the private sector, it had increased at a faster rate.
Demand rose for all nine types of permanent staff in March across both sectors. The strongest growth was seen in engineering, while the slowest increase was among blue collar employees.
Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG, said: “Britain may not yet be near the levels of full employment that Chancellor George Osborne committed to last week but, with permanent and temporary placements remaining strong, anyone looking for a new job must be increasingly confident that their search will soon be over. It’s particularly encouraging to note that employers are focusing on full-time employment, with more organisations offering contracts for permanent positions than temporary roles over the past month.
“It also appears that employers are attempting to encourage candidates to move away from the short-term mentality of temporary roles by raising the bar with the starting salaries aligned to permanent positions.
“It’s a welcome sign that employers have enough confidence to commit their balance sheets to long term employment plans.”
“It’s all good news, but the next step will be for candidates to put themselves forward for the role on offer – something they still seem unwilling to do.”
REC’s director of policy Tom Hadley said: “The trend of growth in people finding jobs across all industrial sectors and regions continues. Starting salaries and hourly pay rates are up as employers battle to entice the talent they need. As real wages begin to rise across the jobs market people will start to feel better off.
“However worsening candidate shortages mean that the number of people available to fill both temporary and permanent jobs is falling at the sharpest rate in nearly a decade. We have a core group of long-term unemployed people whose skills don’t fit with current vacancies and are unable to access the jobs market.
“As well as up skilling UK workers, the government needs to take a joined up approach to immigration. A priority is addressing the restrictions on visas for highly skilled workers, which would allow businesses to access the people they need to grow and create jobs for more British workers.”