Recruitment figures show signs of improvement for the third month running

According to the latest Report on Jobs from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG, October marked the third consecutive month of growth in permanent and temporary appointments and there was a marked rise in job vacancies. And although salaries continued to drop, it was at their slowest pace in 13 months.

But the availability of staff to fill job vacancies continued to increase last month.

Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC (pictured), said: "These figures show that the UK jobs market is on the road to recovery, with signs of improvement for the third month in a row. The demand for permanent recruitment is returning as employers start to hire people at an accelerating rate.
 
"Confidence is on the rise with permanent placements increasing at their fastest rate in two years and growth of temporary staff appointments at a 16-month high.
 
"Based on the latest findings, we anticipate that unemployment will not reach 3 million in 2010 as some predicted. This again highlights the benefits of the UK's flexible labour market and a balanced attitude towards employment legislation in terms of keeping people in work."
 
Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG, added: "The UK jobs market looks healthier today than at any time in the past two years which is, of course, encouraging news. Sectors like accounting and banking lead the recovery and we may well have reached the tipping point into growth, driven by returning confidence in the private sector. However, we are still to see the impact of the looming public-sector recession on the jobs market, which will play out over the first 12 months of a new parliamentary term."