Search:

The road to recovery for the jobs market

The unemployment rate has increased to around the 8% mark since the recession first lodged itself into the core of the global economy. This is the highest level since the mid 1990s and there has not been such a deep reaching peacetime recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

However, there could at last be light at the end of the tunnel. Consumer confidence is up meaning high street spending is on the increase and the travel sector, albeit the low-cost division, is happily increasing capacity again as bookings start to rise.

The financial sector is making baby steps towards recovery and the housing market finally has some wind in its sails. But probably the most joyful news for the average UK citizen is that the job market is picking up pace.

In the middle of 2009, headlines spoke of empty job pages, underworked recruitment consultants, redundancy and a huge rise in the number of people ''going freelance'' or going on sabbatical. But figures compiled by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG showed the index of permanent placements by recruitment agencies to have jumped from 61.7% in November to 62.8% in December ? the fastest growth rate in two and a half years.

The good news doesn''t end their either. In December, the reading for job market growth jumped to above 50, meaning the market was in expansion, compared to the previous months'' reading of below 50 expressing contraction.

The unemployment rate may still be an ugly 7.8%, but according to the Office of National Statistics the overall unemployment figure fell by 7,000 to 2.458 million.

Certain sectors are fairing much better. Marketing and PR jobs for example are schmoosing their way to the top of the list followed by other media related jobs. Education and healthcare, sectors that previously were struggling, are now getting a welcome boost as people retrain as teachers and nursing assistants.

Sales jobs are lower than normal, but as consumer and business confidence grows, this sector is likely to bounce back quickly. Recruitment is also an area that saw a lot of redundancies and is still lagging behind other sectors. In 2007 you couldn''t go through a job site without stumbling upon umpteen recruitment and HR jobs.

Thankfully, and just in time, part-time jobs are beginning to blossom. This will help people who may need to supplement a lost income through temp, shift or part-time employment.

Article Source: http://www.articlewide.com

Information about the Author:

Ronna Asley was looking for jobs and found the Guardian Jobs website, he now recommends it highly.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated