· The Monster Employment Index UK recovered slightly in April, rising by two percent. Overall, the Index is down 37% year-on-year
· Online job opportunities increased in the healthcare, education, management and consulting, and legal sectors, but offerings dipped in construction; and HR
· Regional job demand grew most in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with increases also recorded in the South West and North England
Summary Overview
The Monster Employment Index UK increased by two percent in April. This was the second monthly rise in three months, suggesting that UK job demand may be starting to stabilise. Year-on-year, however, the Index was down 67 points, or 37 percent. The rise in April was driven by increased job opportunities in the healthcare, social work, education, training and library, management and consulting, and legal sectors. By contrast, hiring fell sharply for workers in construction and extraction, and HR. The overall European Index dipped one point in April, showing a 54 point, or 33 percent, decline year-on-year.
The Monster Employment Index Europe is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across the UK, including Monster.co.uk.
"April’s modest increase in online recruitment activity suggests that the pace of slowdown in the UK job market may have started to," commented Hugo Sellert, head of economic research, at Monster Worldwide. "Although demand for workers remains significantly lower than last year, signs of stabilisation are appearing across sectors of the economy. Meanwhile, there continues to be strong demand for education and healthcare workers to fill existing vacancies."
Strong growth in demand for education and healthcare workers
Online job demand in the healthcare; social work; and education, training, library sectors grew strongly again in April, with offerings rising by 13% and 9% respectively. Both sectors registered their highest levels of online job availability since the Index’s inception in December 2004. This growth indicates increased hiring in areas of the public sector when much of the private sector is cutting jobs.
Job availability in the management and consulting sector rose by 13% in April and in the legal sector by 8%, following declines in March. This reflects a moderate pick-up in demand for professional service workers in general. Nevertheless, offerings in both industries remain significantly below levels seen in April 2008.
By contrast, job demand in the construction and extraction industry fell by four Index points, or 5%, reflecting the difficult conditions in the housing sector. Offerings in the construction and extraction sector are now at their lowest Index level since January 2005 and they have fallen by 49% year-on-year.
Opportunities for HR workers also fell by an additional 5% as demand eased for the ninth time in ten months following a moderate uptick in February, suggesting companies across Britain are still scaling back on human resources.
Demand for managers; and professionals increases most
Online job demand for managers; and professionals rose by 2% in April, while hiring of technicians and associate professionals edged slightly higher. Although available vacancies remain well below year-earlier levels following a marked slowdown in hiring for these occupations during 2008, this monthly growth indicates an increase in demand for skilled white-collar workers.
Job availability for plant and machine operators, and assemblers rose by one Index point in April, or 2%. This was the second successive monthly increase among this occupational group. Nevertheless, year-on-year offerings remain down 60 points, or 55%, reflecting a sharp decline in industrial production across the UK.
In contrast, there was a marked reduction in online job opportunities in April for skilled agricultural and fishery workers (down eight percent), and craft and related workers (down 5%) for the second straight month.
Scotland and Northern Ireland lead regional growth
Online job availability bounced back in Scotland as regional job offerings increased by 14%, offsetting a sizeable decrease in March. Demand in Northern Ireland also grew by 14%, as the regional job market starts to recover from a dramatic fall in demand in January. Despite this growth, demand in both regions has fallen in line with the UK average. Online job opportunities also increased in the South West (up 5%) and North England (up 4%).
Hiring in East Anglia fell by 5% in April – the most among UK regions. Job opportunities dipped by 1% in London as the region registered the lowest level of online advertised vacancies since July 2005.
