While August was a bad month for opportunities for permanent workers in Scotland, a new report says that freelancers, contractor, and umbrella service workers saw a marked increase in the number of job placements.
The Bank of Scotland’s latest jobs report for August found that the overall employment condition north of the border was just marginally improved in comparison to July’s figures. The Labour Market Barometer, which is the metric Bank of Scotland uses to indicate relative market strength, did rise 2.2 points to 52.4 – an improvement over the previous month’s 50.2 – but is still below the 53.4 long term average for the country.
Bank of Scotland’s chief economist, Donald MacRae, commented on the new findings, remarking that the temporary employment sector drove the overall rise with an increase in interim positions, though vacancies within both the temporary and permanent sector both increased in August as well. However, these permanent positions were once more not filled with the same alacrity as they were in previous months, highlighting how challenging it is in the current economy to maintain a steady employment increase, but even marginal growth is better than none; the economy in Scotland is still inching forward, swimming against the tide of a worldwide economic slowdown that has been stubbornly refusing to relinquish its grip upon world economies.
Despite the reticence on the part of the economy to build up a head of steam and begin moving forward once more, interim workers such as freelancers and contractors are doing their best to kickstart economic growth.
