Online recruitment experienced strong growth across the UK in June, as the Monster Employment Index UK grew eight points. The Index showed that demand grew sharply in the first half of 2007, despite a dip in April. In June, the Index rose to 170, led by significant growth in the management and consulting industry sector. London and East Anglia saw the highest increases in online job opportunities in June, while the South West dropped by five points after a highly successful Q1. Overall, the Index is up 45 points in the last 12 months. The Monster Employment Index UK is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from different websites across Europe, including Monster.uk.

“It’s highly encouraging to see such a marked increase in online recruitment activity for the management and consulting sector,” said Alan Townsend, COO, Monster UK and Ireland. “This is a positive sign that UK business may be expanding, and could indicate further growth across all industries in the second half of 2007.”

Notable increases were seen in the legal, sales and banking, finance, insurance industries but despite strong overall growth for the UK, demand declined across ten industry sectors. HR and healthcare, social work and hospitality and tourism experienced the most notable decreases in demand. In line with the growth in management and consulting, legislators, senior officials and managers was the fastest growing of the occupations, but service workers and shop and market sales workers decreased by 18 points. Strongest growth centred around London, East Anglia and the South East. Despite being popular tourist destinations, Scotland and the South West saw the biggest declines in job opportunities.

Growth in London was driven by increases in management and consulting, production, manufacturing and repair and sales, while demand for blue-collar workers decreased.

The South East saw a third consecutive month of growth, with increased demand for technicians and associate professionals the main contributor. Recruitment activity increased in education, training and library, research and development and sales, but real estate declined for the third month in a row. Online job opportunities for skilled agricultural and fishery workers dropped for the second month in succession.

The management and consulting sector grew by 35 points and increased for the second successive month – year-on-year, the industry has grown by 68%. The rise in June was a direct result of higher demand for white-collar workers in London.