Job Opportunities Down, but up 22 Percent Year on Year

LONDON, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Job opportunities across the country slipped further back last month, down 3 Index points (2 per cent) in April compared to March, according to the latest Reed Job Index. However year on year employer demand is up 22 per cent to give a Reed Job Index reading of 125.

UK vacancies for jobs (http://www.reed.co.uk/) have risen 25 per cent since December 2009, (when the Index's baseline was set at 100) according to the report compiled by the UK's largest recruitment site reed.co.uk.

Following the steep rise in vacancies this Spring, April's job demand is still 20 percent higher than the level for the whole of last year. Private sector growth is responsible for this increase, as new public sector jobs remain at only half the level they were when the Index began.

Salaries for new jobs have stayed one percent lower in real terms than in December 2009. Although this level is unchanged from last month, it means salaries are lagging further behind inflation to give a Reed Salary Index reading of 99.

Job demand in sectors like Banking jobs in london ( http://www.reed.co.uk/LocalJobs/London,-South-East-England) and Leisure & Tourism has fallen back from the prior month's record highs. However other job sectors have bucked the trend and risen up. Job demand continues to grow across both the manufacturing the service sectors, with increases in Engineering, Customer Service, Estate Agency, Human Resources, IT and Telecomms.

Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk, comments on the Reed Job Index for April:

"The numbers of new job vacancies fell back down in April, perhaps not surprisingly as the Easter and Royal Wedding holidays led to a disjointed period for UK businesses.

"However, the Reed Job Index (http://www.reed.co.uk/jobIndex) remains over 20 percent higher than last year's level following the steep increase in the first quarter of the year, as reflected in the falling unemployment and rising GDP figures for the same period.

"Clearly business growth has been sustained at a higher level than the last Quarter of 2010, but continued recovery remains difficult to predict."