Quotation from Alan Townsend MD for Monster UK & Ireland

Following figures published by the ONS today, please find below a quotation from Alan Townsend, MD for Monster UK & Ireland.

Figures released by the ONS for August show that the UK employment rate has risen to 74.8% in three months to July 2005. There has been no change in the UK unemployment rate which remains flat at 4.7 per cent, unchanged both over the previous quarter and the last year. The trend in both the employment and unemployment rates is flat, comments Alan Townsend, MD for Monster UK & Ireland.

ìAt Monster.co.uk, we have over 89,000 job vacancies available online, up from the previous month. The total number of jobs posted has increased by 20% in August, year on year. Continuing the pattern this year, the IT sector again remains the strongest industry with the highest number of jobs available. Categories also showing buoyancy in August include sales, accounting/auditing, administrative and support services as well as engineering. There are positive signs of online recruitment activity. Weíre seeing increases in both job postings and applications, even at a time when consumer confidence is not at its highest and analysts remain slightly cautious about the strength of the UK economy.î