Report reveals increase in permanent and temporary vacancies

Nick Elvin

The number of permanent and temporary UK job vacancies rose over the past year, according to the latest Recruitment Market Analysis from recruitment technology firm Broadbean.

The report reveals that in January 2015 there was an increase of 36.6% in permanent and 35.3% in temporary vacancies on a month-on-month basis.

Permanent vacancies also increased by 18.1%, year-on-year, while temporary opportunities went up 7.8%.

Quarter-on-quarter figures for permanent vacancies show utilities as the best-performing sector (+22%), followed by fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) (+21%) and social care (+11%). Utilities and FMCG also experienced strong year-on-year growth (24% and 35% respectively).

At the other end of the scale, public sector & government saw a 21% drop in permanent vacancies, followed by automotive (-13%) and purchasing & procurement (-12%). Public sector & government, however, experienced a year-on-year increase in permanent vacancies of 5.4%.

Quarter-on-quarter temporary vacancy figures show health and safety as the best performing sector (+33%), followed by consultancy (+14%) and property & housing (+12%). Year-on-year, health and safety (+52%) and consultancy (+51%) also recorded significant increases.

Sectors that saw the biggest quarter-on-quarter falls in temporary vacancies include graduates & trainees (-47%), logistics distribution & supply (-31%) and recruitment consultancy (-28%). Graduates & trainees saw a 24% year-on-year decrease in demand.

Among other findings of the report, there was an overall 11.94% increase in applications per job vacancy, while average offered salaries increased by 0.94% on a three-month rolling basis.