Responding to the ONS Labour Market Statistics published today (17 April), Ann Swain, Chief Executive of The Association of Professional Staffing Companies said:
“It is heartening to see that employment is continuing to rise and at 73.4% is the highest since comparable records began – and higher than the pre-downturn peak in early 2008. This mirrors our own findings which saw a 25% rise in professional level vacancies year on year – although there was a slight cooling month on month mainly due to election uncertainty.”
“The ONS figures also point to a modest 1.7% increase in pay – lower than the growth rate which is also in line with our latest professional trends report which found an average increase of 1.2% in professional level salaries”
“However, the latest ONS figure also point to a 6000 quarter on quarter decrease in staff employed by the public sector - the lowest figure since comparable records began in 1999 – with the increased pressure on our public services this is a worrying trend.”