This month’s Report on Jobs published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG shows continuing signs of improvement in the UK job market.

The survey of 400 recruitment agencies found that in February the number of people placed into permanent jobs through those agencies reached its highest level since July 2007.

Other key findings were:

• Vacancies increased at the sharpest rate for over two and a half years. 
• A faster rise in permanent salaries but temp pay remained largely static.

Overall demand from employers for staff continued to increase in February, continuing the trend seen over the last five months. The rate of increase accelerated again, reaching its fastest for just over two and a half years. Sharper increases in demand were recorded for both permanent and temporary/contract staff.     

The number of job candidates continued to rise in February, but at a slower rate. The latest increases in jobseekers looking for both permanent and temporary/contract positions were the weakest since April 2008.

Bernard Brown, of  KPMG, commented: “The latest figures seem to confirm that the UK jobs market is on the road to recovery: permanent job placements are growing at their fastest pace since July 2007, with both vacancies and salaries increasing. Sectors such as IT and computing as well as engineering and construction that were particularly hit by recession are clearly on the rebound.

“However, this all comes with one big warning: the impact of the inevitable public sector recession on the jobs market has yet to be felt and will be played out over the next six to 12 months.”