Online employment opportunities across the UK held steady in July, as recruitment remained largely unchanged for the fourth consecutive month. The overall European Index dipped one point in July and contracted by 40 percent year-on-year.

While the UK Index remains down year-on-year, the rate of annual decline has levelled off since February, indicating demand has bottomed out following last year’s dramatic decline. July saw increased hiring activity in both the transport, post logistics, and production, manufacturing, maintenance, repair sectors, suggesting job prospects in the hard-hit goods-producing sector may be improving. Meanwhile, consulting and marketing disciplines saw fewer opportunities.

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 European Union, including Monster.co.uk.

“It is encouraging that overall online job demand has stabilized and that recruiting in the goods-producing sector is picking up, but there is still little indication that hiring has resumed in the much-larger service sector,” commented Hugo Sellert, head of economic research, at Monster Worldwide. “The UK economy’s sustained contraction in the second quarter means labour market conditions will remain challenging in the foreseeable future. Competition for top talent is still fierce, however, as companies seek to attract the most qualified workers from the growing pool of unemployed workers.”