Contractor demand growth in Scotland surged during May 2014. However, the dwindling supply of candidates s leaving many clients and agencies unable to fill roles, providing an increasing number of opportunities for contractors throughout the UK.
This is according to the latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs, which also highlights that rates are increasing, driven by “the combination of increased demand for staff and falling levels of available candidates”.
Donald MacRae, chief economist at the Bank of Scotland, says, “This month’s Barometer provides further evidence that the recovery in the Scottish economy will continue throughout 2014.”
ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin agrees: “The contract market in Scotland remains strong, and key sectors such as IT and finance are performing well, as the movement of these categories up the contractor demand league table indicates.”
“Scotland’s contract market continues to suffer from not enough candidates to fill all of the available roles. For several months now, these market conditions have offered good contract opportunities and improving rates for contractors throughout the UK.”
Although the Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer – a composite indicator designed to provide a single figure snapshot of labour market conditions – dipped slightly during the month, labour market growth and contractor prospects remain strong.
MacRae explains: “May’s Barometer showed the Scottish labour market continuing to improve. Not only did the number of people appointed to both permanent and temporary jobs increase over the month, but vacancies grew at a robust rate.
The core contracting disciplines performed well during May, as the report highlights: “IT and computing and accounts and financial also recorded sharp increases in demand for temporary staff in May.”
Engineering and construction moved into fourth place, showing strong growth in contractor demand when compared to the previous month. In contrast, the demand for interim managers in Scotland is slowing, as the executive and professional category fell to eighth in the demand league table.
Demand for oil and gas workers may be stabilising, as Aberdeen saw the greatest reduction in demand for contractors across the country. But Aberdeen led on rate increases during the month, being the location with the highest-climbing contractor pay.
Edinburgh and Dundee both experienced falling contractor agency billings. Chaplin says: “This could be as a result of falling activity in the financial and gaming sectors. Or it could reflect falling availability of candidates. It is most likely the latter, given the demand for both IT and financial contractors shown in the report’s demand league table.”