March 2007 Job Creation Index (JCI) figures released - 32,159 Positions created

Over 32,000 jobs were created across the UKís 21 key industries in March 2007. This figure is down by six percent when compared to February 2007 job creation. This strong performance has been driven by a number of key sectors, including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products and biotechnology, which delivered a positive JCI of over 13,000. Last month, this sector was one of the worst performers and for it to now be topping Marchís results represents a great improvement.

The JCI figures are determined by comparing the number of jobs created within UK industrial sectors each month with the number of jobs created for the corresponding month in the previous year. The JCI figure shows individual industry performance, measured as a percentage above or below the number of jobs created from a year ago. From these figures, the following trends have been highlighted:

Marchís Front Runners

Chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products and biotechnology ñ An outstanding improvement for this sector, with a positive JCI of 13,800

Telecommunications ñ With over 1,500 jobs created in Glasgow, the telecommunications sector was a front-runner with a positive JCI of 671

Vehicles and parts ñ An excellent month for the vehicles and parts sector with a positive JCI of 515

Marchís Chasers

Printing and paperñ Not a good month for the printing and paper sector, which finished bottom with a negative JCI of 72

Energy and utilitiesñ One of the top performers in 2006, the energy and utilities sector slipped to a disappointing position in March with a negative JCI of 59

Health and social care ñ A disappointing performance in March with this sector returning a negative JCI of 33

Ren Schuster, Adecco Country manager, said: ìAlthough we have seen a slight decrease this month on Februaryís overall job creation figure, Marchís results still push over the 30,000 mark, with a positive JCI of 30. However, this month we have seen some different sectors emerge as front-runners. This is encouraging as it reflects stable growth amongst all 21 sectors.î

Philip Arnold, a director of Mandis, commented, ìThe chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products and biotechnology sector recorded an outstanding growth figure of several thousand percent, however, this was from a very low base in March 2006. The announcement of the creation of 500 new jobs in Hatfield with the pharmaceutical company Eisai Limited, in its new headquarters and manufacturing facility, led the way within the sector.î

Arnold continued, ìIn absolute terms, the greatest increase in new job creation intentions was in the leisure and recreation sector, which announced planned increases of nearly 4,000 new jobs. These were mainly due to an announcement by Scottish Enterprise Grampian to invest 1m to develop tourism in the eastern side of the Cairngorns National Park. The telecommunications sector also performed well in absolute terms, with over 1,500 new jobs announced in Glasgow.î

The Mandis/ Adecco Job Creation Index is the ongoing monthly tracker of UK jobs created across 21 industries in the UK that enables year on year monthly comparisons. This ëliveí data is gathered via research during each month into the employment intentions of a representative sample of over 2000 UK organisations, providing a key, up-to-date indicator on economic performance and confidence across the sectors. The monthly study is conducted by Mandis Business Intelligence and sponsored by Adecco, the UKís largest recruiter.