Contractor demand in Scotland reached a seven-month high during December 2012, outperforming the UK as whole. According to the latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs, demand increased alongside falling contractor availability, and rate rises were the strongest since May 2012.
“Temporary job appointments increased at the strongest rate since January 2011,” said Bank of Scotland chief economist Donald MacRae. “These results suggest the Scottish economy has exited the period of slowdown and is entering 2013 in growth mode.”
The core contracting sectors of IT and computing plus engineering and construction posted strong demand growth during December, in third and fourth places in the demand league table respectively. Both sectors also grew at a faster pace than seen during the previous month. The top spots were occupied by the non-core contracting disciplines of nursing/medical/care, and secretarial and clerical.
Scotland’s interim sector experienced a slowdown in demand in the run up to Christmas, but was still firmly in growth territory. However, contractor demand in the country’s financial sector is still shrinking, albeit at a slower rate than during the previous month. This is in line with financial sector performance across the wider UK economy.
In contrast to financial contractor performance, Edinburgh, the centre of Scotland’s financial sector, saw sharp increases in permanent hiring and salary rises, helping place the accounts and finance sector in third place in the permanent candidate demand league table. This indicates that, with growth on the horizon, Scotland-based clients may be hiring employees in preference to contractors.
Dundee’s gaming industry is clearly continuing to perform well, as the city experienced both the greatest rise in contractor billings and the greatest decline in contractor availability. The latter has been declining steadily over the last six months which, alongside the steady increase in pay rates over the same period, may suggest there are not enough Scotland-based contractors to meet supply.