Job demand in August remained steady according to Reed

Employer demand for workers has bucked the trend of the normal summer slump and stayed steady.

According to the data collected by the Reed job index there are now a fifth more jobs than twelve months ago. New job numbers have increased by up to 22% from when the index began in December 2009 according to the report from over 8,000 organisations. Yet salaries for these jobs fell by 2% in August compared to July.

Salaries for jobs are now lower than in December 2009 with a 3% drop. The demand for new jobs dropped across such sectors as financial services and manufacturing. Public sector jobs are still finding it hard to recover with demand dropping back down to half its original value from when the index began.

Martin Warnes, MD of Reed.co.uk, said: "Even though the jobs market is flat, our figures indicate that there are a fifth more new jobs available now than there were 12 months ago. Employers are able to attract the people they need and are investing in the future with skilled staff such as qualified accountants, purchasing professionals and marketers.”

Sadly for graduates they are only expected to see an increase of 9.4% in graduate vacancies as many businesses remain cautious. Three fifths of employers however are expecting to recruit more graduates in 2011 and aim to maintain their level of graduate intake for 2010.

Employers have the pick of the bunch however, and this means that many employers are taking the more experience graduates and workers as they require less training.

Source: Pareto.co.uk, Friday 9th September 2011