The latest Purchasing Managers Index from the Bank of Scotland was published at the beginning of the week and umbrella company contractors should be able to take heart from the results.
The report confirmed that the service sector led the way in job creation north of the border last month. Private sector output is also growing, although the rate of growth has slowed down slightly from the high recorded in March.
Bank of Scotland chief economist, Donald MacRae, said the latest figures confirm that the economy in Scotland is withstanding the economic turbulence that is affecting other countries in the Eurozone.
The PMI in Scotland has now been expanding for sixteen consecutive months. The services sector experienced the most growth, but output in manufacturing declined slightly last month after increasing over the previous two months.
He went on to say that export orders increased for the second successive month. The slight downturn at the end of 2011 only caused a minimum drop in output and this fuels expectations that growth will return this year.
Meanwhile, recruitment agency Adecco recently revealed that opportunities for IT contractors increased in March. The technology sector saw a 3% increase in opportunities. The public sector is also starting to bounce back, registering a 2% increase in job opportunities in March.
Adecco MD, Steven Kirkpatrick, said the Agency Worker Regulations do not appear to have had any dramatic impact on the operations of British businesses.
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