Job Opportunities Slip Back, but Stay up 16 Percent Year on Year - Reed Job Index Down 1 Point to 121

LONDON, October 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Job opportunities across the country slipped back in September, down one index point (1 per cent) compared to August. However, year on year employer demand is up 16 per cent, to give a Reed Job Index reading of 121, according to the report compiled by the UK's leading recruitment site reed.co.uk. 

New job demand dropped back across a range of job sectors from General Insurance to Marketing & PR in September.  New Banking staff continued to decline to give a Reed Banking Index of 75, the lowest since the index began.  The Reed Public Sector Job Index reads 57.

 However, demand for new workers rose in core industrial and technical areas such as Engineering and Manufacturing as well as in business services sectors like Customer Services and Media, Digital & Creative.

Salaries for new jobs stayed steady in September, to give an overall Reed Salary Index reading of 97. This means that salaries on offer for new jobs are still down three per cent in real terms since December 2009, and continue to lag behind rising inflation.  

 Demand for new staff varied across the UK in September with the number of new jobs rising in East Anglia, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the West Midlands. The number of new jobs advertised in all other regions, including London, dropped back.  

 Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk, comments on the Reed Job Index for September: 

 "The economy seems to be treading water at the moment.  Demand for new staff is falling back in key areas of the financial sector such as banking and general insurance.  At the same time there are signs that the much-sought re-balancing of the economy is a possibility, as sustained growth has returned to job-sectors like Engineering and Manufacturing.

 "Across the private sector as a whole new jobs are still up more than a fifth compared to this time last year, and employers have found that stable salaries make it a good time for them to invest in new talent."

 For further information, please contact Mark Rhodes or Lynn Cahillane on 020 7067 4582

 NOTES FOR EDITORS

• Each month the Reed Job Index tracks the number of new job opportunities and the salaries on offer compared to the previous month and against a baseline of 100 set in December 2009.   The Reed Job Index is based on data from the UK's largest job board, reed.co.uk, which every day lists over 90,000 job opportunities from 8,000 recruiters across 37 career sectors throughout the UK. 

 • The Reed Job Index is compiled by data drawn from on-line job vacancies and job-seeker activity on reed.co.uk.  

 • reed.co.uk is the UK's largest commercial job board, with over 90,000 job opportunities from more than 8,000 recruiters at any one time.

 • Independent measurement by Hitwise verifies that reed.co.uk has the highest market share of visits for any commercial job board in the UK

 • reed.co.uk is part of Reed Global, the international recruitment group of companies

For further information, please contact Mark Rhodes or Lynn Cahillane on +44-(0)20-7067-4582

SOURCE reed.co.uk