Contractor demand across all the major contracting disciplines has increased, while UK online recruitment across the board has reached a two-year high, according to February’s Monster Employment Index UK (MEI).
Isabelle Ratinaud, Monster UK & Ireland spokesperson was upbeat about this month’s results: “It is a significant milestone to see recruitment at its highest level since December 2008 and trends indicate a positive outlook for most UK industries.
By sector, online demand for IT workers in February increased from 103 to 113 points, an uplift of 9.7% month on month, with year-on-year demand 23% higher compared to February 2010. This puts IT in third place in the annual demand league, behind transport and research and development.
Demand for engineers rose by 15% from January to February. Construction saw a surprise surge in online recruitment, rising from 74 points to 87 points, or 17.5% – according to the MEI, this is the highest recruitment level since the end of 2008.
Ratinaud says: “Many sectors that were said to be struggling, such as construction, have shown a strong recovery this month, while others, particularly those relating to manufacturing, have performed well.”
Online recruitment in the rest of Europe has also performed well in February, with the Monster Employment Index Europe showing increased online hiring in 23 of the 24 industry sectors monitored. However IT worker demand growth was proportionally smaller and engineer demand proportionally higher than in the UK.
But, despite renewed activity by employers and clients resulting in this surge in online recruitment and new contract opportunities, Ratinaud urges contractors seeking new contracts to up their game: “Candidates must also remember that high levels of unemployment mean competition is strong, so they must continue to go the extra mile in applications and interviews to stand out from the crowd.”