Good news for graduates as the number of recruiting employers increased in January

For the first time in four months the number of employers recruiting graduates increased in January.

The latest monthly index on jobs published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has revealed that last January recruitment increased to 51.2 from 48.5. The UK economy has seen a slight recovery and since September this is the first time the reading on jobs has gone higher than 50.

"There are glimmers of hope for the UK jobs market," said REC Chief Executive, Kevin Green. "The Report on Jobs also follows better than expected services data from the PMI last Friday, which suggests that confidence is growing amongst consumers as well as businesses."

Although recruitment is moving forward, the UK jobs market has a long period of recovery ahead. Graduates are one of the hardest hit as many employers are freezing their graduate recruitment. With unemployment been at a 17 year high, the slow recovery of recruitment is at its weakest pace in more than 2 years.

Yet according to Kevin Green "This is the first positive indicator for some time that employers are looking to hire staff despite the ongoing weakness of the economy. It is particularly encouraging that six out of eight sectors surveyed show growth in demand, including engineering, IT and office professionals."

Source: Pareto.co.uk, Monday 13th February 2012