AllTheTopBananas.com reveal the UK Jobs Market is off to a slow start

The UK jobs market is off
to a slow start in 2010, according to jobs search engine AllTheTopBananas.com.
Job data analysed for the site's leading job advertisers for December showed a
22% decline in job availability when compared with November 2009. The results
for January provide a similarly sluggish outlook, with job availability
increasing only slightly by 19% since December.



The end of January saw the UK officially emerge from recession, although the
growth that the economy achieved was far below expectations, suggesting that
there may be a long way to go before the economy and the jobs market
significantly recovers. An article
on the BBC news website yesterday [February 15th] suggests that the recruitment
industry may well be in for a tough time ahead, as public sector job cuts are
expected in the coming months.



AllTheTopBananas.com have been analysing job data and salary indexes since 2008
and have monitored the changes in job count data throughout the recession.
Although the new decade has not thus far provided a major influx in job
availability, industry experts are still confident that 2010 will see a significant
improvement within the jobs market.



Dave Martin, MD for AllTheTopBananas.com said: The job statistics for the
fourth quarter of 2009 heralded very positive results for the jobs market; with
October in particular being a very strong month in terms of available jobs.
While the Christmas period experienced a welcome boost to the number of jobs
available, we have seen January struggle to keep up the pace, taking off to a
relatively slow start. Overall the job count for January is 30% behind that of a
year previously; however the UK weather conditions have affected all business
operations during the early part of the year which affects any year on year
comparison. It suggests a positive but slow return to form, which we
will continue to monitor on a monthly basis.



AllTheTopBananas will continue to provide monthly figures on job availability
throughout the year. Along with their research, the jobs search engine will be
launching the first public beta testing of their brand new site changes at
TruLondon's recruitment unconference in London on the 18th of February. The
site changes being unveiled will focus on refining their search technology;
including a similar jobs matching service, which uses AllTheTopBananas' job
title conversion technology to enhance relevancy of the jobs displayed. Other
site changes include using icons to display relevant job data to the jobseeker,
by using a system which picks out key phrases from the job description.