UK Online Recruitment Reaches Highest Level Since December 2008, According to Monster Employment Index

The Monster Employment Index UK rose by 12 percent in February, and improved six percent from a year ago, reflecting continued acceleration in its long-term growth trend to suggest a continued firming in underlying labour demand conditions. The overall level of online job availability in February was higher than any point since December 2008.

In addition to the month-on-month growth registered by the IT sector, the production and transportation sectors displayed positive annual improvements, signalling an upswing in demand trends for manufacturing and commerce related workers and thereby lending some evidence that business activity is reviving. Sales and arts also showed positive online recruitment growth trends.

The Monster Employment Index Europe is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across the European Union, including Monster.co.uk.

Monster Employment Index UK findings for the past 13 months are as follows:

Feb 10	Jan 10	Dec 09	Nov 09	Oct 09	Sep 09	Aug 09	Jul 09	Jun 09	May 09	Apr 09	Mar 09	Feb 09
124	111	120	116	114	107	109	110	110	109	112	110	117

“The February Index findings show that UK online job recruitment activity continues to trend higher, with the annual growth rate hitting six percent,” commented Julian Acquari, Managing Director at Monster UK and Ireland. “However, despite the Index’s emergence from the low points of 2009, the job market remains challenging in this fragile economy.”

Majority of sectors register rise in online recruitment, IT shows best growth
The vast majority of industry sectors registered a rise in online recruitment activity between January and February, with 11 sectors achieving positive annual growth.

The IT sector registered the fastest monthly growth, adding 15 points (19 percent). Year-on-year the sector has gained eight percent, indicating a much improved job market for professionals in the computer field relative to the market at the beginning of 2009.

Arts, entertainment, sports, leisure registered a 14 point (11 percent) increase in the February Index, rising for a fourth consecutive month. Sales also registered an upturn.

In contrast to IT, other highly technical sectors, including research and development; and engineering, have annual declines of 26 percent and 24 percent respectively, making them the poorest trending of all the sectors in the Index.

Healthcare, social work edged down in the February Index, but the decline is somewhat aligned with seasonal patterns for this time of year. Public sector, defence, community logged an unseasonably steep monthly decline, with current online demand slightly below its year-ago level.

Clerical support workers group continues to register upturn
Online job demand strengthened in eight of the nine occupational groups monitored by the Index in February. Professionals saw the largest monthly rise in opportunities, jumping 15 points (15 percent). The annual pace of decline flattened from 14 percent in January to 4 percent in February, but remains weaker than the overall national trend.

Clerical support workers extended an upward trend in the Index, as online demand for back-office workers expanded for a seventh consecutive month. The improvement in job availability was unmatched by any other occupational group.

Growth observed in all regions
All UK regions registered a rise in online job availability between January and February. Northern England displayed the highest rate of increase in February, rising 19 points (15 percent) in February. Year-on-year the region is up nine percent in the Index.

Northern Ireland also continued on a track of expansion, adding 13 points in February, and rising 19 percent above its year-ago level. London and Wales were the top growth regions in the Index year-on-year; the only regions to fall below their February 2009 levels were East Anglia and the South East, indicating that those local climates for job creation are still challenging.

Best performing sectors

Industry sectors showing the greatest rate of increase in online job availability included:

Month-on-month

Industry	Feb 10	Jan 10	%
IT	92	77	19%
Education, training and library	294	250	18%
Marketing, PR and media	127	109	17%
Transport, post and logistics	117	102	15%
HR	79	69	14%

Year-on-year

Industry	Feb 10	Feb 09	%
Production, manufacturing, maintenance, repair	124	86	44%
Sales	112	86	30%
Arts, entertainment, sports, leisure	145	120	21%
Transport, post and logistics	117	97	21%
Administrative, organisation	117	98	19%

Monster Employment Index UK findings across industry sectors for the past 13 months are as follows:

Industry	Feb 10	Jan 10	Dec 09	Nov 09	Oct 09	Sep 09	Aug 09	Jul 09	Jun 09	May 09	Apr 09	Mar 09	Feb 09
Accounting, audit, taxes	98	88	90	90	89	86	82	82	85	83	85	84	91
Administrative, organisation	117	104	102	101	97	94	93	90	91	90	88	89	98
Arts, entertainment, sports, leisure	145	131	125	120	105	106	99	100	95	103	108	108	120
Banking, finance, insurance	113	102	112	106	108	107	109	106	106	107	115	116	123
Construction and extraction	71	63	70	68	67	67	67	72	70	74	79	83	81
Education, training and library	294	250	288	287	281	231	240	278	294	283	290	267	253
Engineering	113	99	116	114	111	106	111	122	121	125	136	138	149
Environment, architecture and urbanism	61	54	62	64	62	61	60	62	62	63	68	68	74
Healthcare, social work	319	325	323	339	329	323	329	334	312	276	330	291	305
Hospitality and tourism	111	115	140	138	141	124	132	130	132	139	124	123	129
HR	79	69	71	66	63	59	64	63	57	56	56	59	72
IT	92	77	87	83	83	79	81	79	80	81	80	82	85
Legal	128	114	135	128	126	128	135	136	126	125	130	120	139
Management and consulting	180	163	170	171	168	168	166	162	181	187	176	156	162
Marketing, PR and media	127	109	118	112	108	104	105	99	104	103	119	121	138
Production, manufacturing, maintenance, Repair	124	121	127	119	115	105	111	114	108	106	95	97	86
Public sector, defence, community	103	117	115	111	114	101	112	111	106	106	105	104	104
Research and development	108	106	127	126	118	108	115	118	121	133	146	149	146
Sales	112	99	105	102	99	93	91	91	88	88	86	85	86
Telecommunications	72	68	65	68	65	66	60	66	71	66	71	74	80
Transport, post and logistics	117	102	107	112	119	107	105	108	91	96	93	89	97

Monster Employment Index UK findings across occupational categories for the past 13 months are as follows:

Occupation	Feb 10	Jan 10	Dec 09	Nov 09	Oct 09	Sep 09	Aug 09	Jul 09	Jun 09	May 09	Apr 09	Mar 09	Feb 09
Managers	112	102	106	106	104	102	103	103	100	101	105	103	107
Professionals	117	102	111	109	107	103	104	108	110	107	113	111	122
Technicians and associate professionals	137	127	134	131	129	121	125	121	115	111	108	107	109
Clerical support workers	129	119	115	112	107	100	93	86	87	90	83	84	87
Service and sales workers	74	71	82	80	80	69	70	69	78	80	78	79	86
Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers	171	162	163	168	163	174	153	173	160	157	181	197	214
Craft and related workers	146	128	145	139	138	130	135	139	138	139	140	148	158
Plant and machine operators, and assemblers	62	58	60	63	62	59	58	62	56	56	49	48	44
Elementary occupations	73	77	82	75	72	65	69	73	68	69	69	71	60

Monster Employment Index UK findings across the regions for the past 13 months are as follows:

Region	Feb 10	Jan 10	Dec 09	Nov 09	Oct 09	Sep 09	Aug 09	Jul 09	Jun 09	May 09	Apr 09	Mar 09	Feb 09
East Anglia	107	98	112	111	111	106	108	106	109	110	105	111	112
London	118	109	110	105	103	98	98	101	99	96	95	96	100
Midlands	116	110	111	108	106	101	101	102	100	103	101	102	110
North England	148	129	141	138	133	124	127	131	128	127	138	133	136
Northern Ireland	114	101	104	105	107	108	109	113	109	108	106	93	96
Scotland	133	124	130	124	114	105	106	109	106	108	114	100	114
South East	106	95	104	102	101	97	99	99	98	98	103	104	107
South West	209	192	205	205	203	188	191	189	195	194	198	189	190
Wales	235	221	227	210	195	174	175	184	188	195	192	192	174

Monster Employment Index UK for March will be released on April 13, 2010.

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