The UK labour market saw job vacancies increase by 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, a study reveals.

The UK labour market saw job vacancies increase by 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, a study reveals.

Findings from the Reed Job Index report of some 10,000 companies show that there was a 6 per cent increase in vacancies between Q4 2011 and Q1 2012.

The monthly report, which analyses data across 37 industry sectors and 12 UK regions, shows the engineering sector reaching its highest mark for employer demand (230) since the Index was set in December 2009. Other employment sectors driving this growth include IT, construction, motoring and purchasing.

The East Midlands is the UK’s leading region by measure of year-on-year growth, while Scotland and Northern Ireland are the only areas to report a decline in employer demand compared with February.

Reed managing director Martin Warnes says, ‘The latest Index shows that job creation has been strong during the first three months of the year.

‘It represents a significant improvement on the same period last year and supports the growing confidence in the UK's economic recovery which was expressed this week by both the Purchasing Managers Index and the British Chambers of Commerce.’

Warnes says that employers in technical and manufacturing sectors are driving the recovery and are taking on more staff now compared to a year ago.

‘Led by an upbeat engineering sector, these industries are showing intent to plan sustainable futures by increasing staff. A boost to the number of new construction jobs available also gives hope that a sustained economic recovery is on the cards.’

However, he adds that the cost to business of employing staff remains a barrier to recruitment. ‘The Budget may have been seen as friendly to business, but the taxation burden of actually employing staff remains high which needs to be addressed by policy makers to assist continued job growth and a sustained job-led recovery.’

See also: Promising growth for SMEs