Jobseekers look to the public sector for salvation

The public sector continues to experience a surge in popularity amongst jobseekers as the economic skies darken further. With unemployment numbers currently at 2.2million and the British economy in the midst of the deepest recession in 100 years the public sector is increasingly becoming an attractive career choice for many job hunters.

Recent figures published by the National Statistics Office reveal that despite growing unemployment across many industries in the private sector, growth in public sector employment remained strong in Q4 2008, with headcount increasing across central government (19,000 jobs), NHS (21,000) and the general public sector (15,000). Comparably the private sector jobs market has shrunk by over 13,000 jobs in the same period.

The latest independent audit of visitors going to leading careers site jobsgopublic.com marks a dramatic increase in visitor numbers amidst a crowded market and tricky economic climate, posting the largest visitor numbers in their 10 year history, with unique visitors up 48% to 598,236 per month.

The nature of the visitor traffic the public sector recruitment market is experiencing is one of the most encouraging aspects of the latest figures. A large number of private sector workers are turning their attention to opportunities within the public sector. 38% of visitors to Jobsgopublic in May 2009 stated they were from the private sector.

David Marshall, Co-founder of Jobsgopublic said;
ìOur visitor figures come as no surprise given the current economic conditions and the interest weíre seeing from private sector candidates is encouraging for the sector. This is a perfect opportunities for public sector employers to exploit market conditions and acquire private sector skills and experience to the benefit of public services.

The sector has sometimes struggled to compete for talent but with remuneration and benefits packages improving in recent years it boasts many attractive career opportunities.î

With many experts expecting unemployment figures to breach 10% in 2010 it seems the tough times are far from over but Jobsgopublic are confident they have what it takes to continue prospering within a resilient public sector recruitment market. With budget restrictions affecting many public sector organisations the search for cost effective recruitment solutions has never been more intense.

David Marshall added;
ìWe offer employers superb value for money allowing them to post vacancies to our network of sites which supports the public sector way of recruiting. We stand out from other job sites as we donít carry adverts from recruitment consultants. We realise the squeeze will continue but we are confident we can continue to offer real value as more and more job seekers look to change their careers and turn to the public sector.î

1 Office for National Statistics, June 2009.
2 Office for National Statistics, March 2009.
3 Office for National Statistics, March 2009.
4 ABC Electronic Audit, March 2009.
5 Jobsgopublic Jobseeker Survey, May 2009 based on 2500 responses.