Contractors based in Scotland and throughout the wider UK can potentially benefit from an increased number of contract opportunities with not enough people to fill them.
In particular, contractors prepared to relocate to Scotland from other parts of the UK could fill the increasing numbers of IT, financial, engineering and energy/oil and gas contract vacancies.
The Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs for March shows contractor agency billings falling, contractor availability dropping at the fastest rate since October 2014 and rates continuing to rise. All are symptoms of a supply and demand mismatch emerging in the country.
Aberdeen, the energy capital of Europe, experienced the sharpest falls in availability of both contractors and permanent candidates, suggesting that skills shortages continue in the oil and gas sector. Edinburgh experienced a surge in contractor agency billings, showing that the financial sector in the city continues to recover.
“The number of people appointed to jobs increased, accompanied by a strong rise in job vacancies during the month,” says Bank of Scotland Chief Economist Donald MacRae in response to the survey’s findings.
And the Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer, a snapshot of the health of Scotland’s labour market that provides contractors with an indirect indication of their likely prospects, remained unchanged from the previous month at near record levels.
“The Barometer reading for March was the joint-second highest in the history of the survey, reaching pre-recession levels,” notes MacRae.
Some of the core contracting disciplines have moved up the demand league table at the expense of others. Engineering and construction jumped two places to third, from fifth in February, as IT and computing fell two places from third to fifth.
Accounts and financial also slid a place into fourth, although executive and professional remained in seventh place. Despite this minor jostling for position, all four sectors remained firmly in growth territory, and engineering and construction experienced accelerated demand growth.
MacRae concludes: “This tightening jobs market provides more evidence of increasing business confidence and embedding of the growing recovery.”