APSCo’s latest Monthly Trends analysis contained some reasonably encouraging news for umbrella company contractors.
The temporary jobs market currently appears to be performing much better than the permanent market, especially in the financial sector. Demand for experienced accountancy and finance temps has been growing over the last three months, although it is still not as strong as in March last year.
In the engineering sector, temporary vacancies were up by 3% on February’s figure and 5% up on March 2011.
Employers are still nervous about hiring permanent staff. The number of openings for permanent professional level staff dropped by 3% in March and stands at 20.5% down on the same period last year. Demand for permanent IT staff also dropped, although there is still a strong demand for specialist IT contractors.
Ann Swain, the chief executive of APSCo, explained that the jobs market has lost momentum after staging a rally at the beginning of the year. The amount of permanent vacancies remains about a third down on this time last year. The precarious state of the UK economy has made it hard for employers to take on any but the most essential new staff.
The on-going crisis in the Eurozone means that situation is likely to remain for some time to come and that could be to the benefit of contractors. Temporary workers, by their very nature, are flexible and help employers meet peaks in the workload without the costs associated with permanent hiring.
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