Rise in vacancies and recruitment activity point to recovery

The number of vacancies posted online in February was the highest since December 2008 when the recession really kicked in, but the jobs market is not out of the woods yet.

These are the findings of the Employment Index compiled by online recruitment web site Monster UK. It noted that the amount of positions available last month grew by 12% compared with January, which experienced its usual seasonal slowdown. The figures were also up 6% on a year ago.

The continued acceleration in long-term growth trends suggested a continued improvement in underlying labour demand conditions, the report said. But Julian Acquari, the firm’s managing director, warned: “Despite the Index’s emergence from the low points of 2009, the job market remains challenging in this fragile economy.”

While the majority of industry sectors saw a rise in online recruitment activity between January and February this year, the fastest growing chunk of the market was IT, which grew 19% - or 8% if compared with year ago figures.