March 2011 Index Highlights:
- Online job opportunities in the UK remain positive as March sees an increase of nine percent year-over-year
- Europe notes a 26 per cent rise in job opportunities year-over-year
- The demand for skilled craft and tradesmen has grown by 24 per cent year-over-year and four per cent month-over-month
- Technical sectors are the strongest performers in online recruitment; Engineering’s annual growth rate accelerates, while IT and Research and development maintain robust gains
- Banking and public sector see the biggest decrease in opportunities in March, declining seven and six percent on the year
- The South West and East Anglia continue to strengthen as they see the greatest annual increase of online job postings year-over-year
“The Monster Employment Index for March indicates broad job availability across the country” said Isabelle Ratinaud, Monster UK & Ireland spokesperson. “While growth rate slowed during the autumn months, the private sector continues to grow steadily within industries such as IT, construction, transport and research and development, which could help in some way to offset public sector job losses. Construction has maintained its steady upward growth trend this month and remains at its highest recruitment level since December 2008, pre-recession.”
The Monster Employment Index Europe is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards across the European Union, including Monster.co.uk.
Industry Year-over-year Trends: 11 of the 21 industry sectors monitored by the Index showed positive annual growth year-over-year
- Transport, post and logistics (up 30 percent) remained steady from rates observed last month but exhibited the highest annual growth of all industry sectors within the Index
- Engineering (up 26 percent) was among the sectors that registered the greatest increase in annual growth including construction (up 25 percent), Research and development (up 24 percent) and IT (up 22 percent), while the white-collar segment saw declines in banking and legal
- Construction and extraction (up 25 percent) continued its annual growth from the prior month’s 23 percent rate, suggesting an emergence of contract and short-term opportunities for a wide spectrum of skilled tradesmen, particularly in South East, North England, and London
- Banking, finance and insurance and telecommunications (both down seven percent) exhibited the steepest declines in annual growth in the Index in March
- Public sector, defense, community (down six percent) marked a further annual decline in online recruitment activity aligned to continued cuts in government spending
Top Growth Industries
Lowest Growth Industries
Occupation Year-over-year Trends: Online job activity rose in six of the nine occupational groups monitored by the Index.
- Craft and related workers (up 24 percent) registered the highest growth rate over the year
- Plant and machine operators and assemblers (up 19 percent) rose significantly year-over-year, aligned with manufacturing and production industry growth trends and demonstrated continued demand for trade workers
- Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers (down 11 percent) saw the largest decline of all occupational groups
Top Growth Occupations
Lowest Growth Occupations
Geographic year-over-year Trends: Seven out of nine regions in the UK demonstrated positive annual growth in March.
- East Anglia (up 28 percent) remained one of the strongest performing regions and maintained its steady upward growth trend from January 2011
- South West (up 28 percent) continued to exhibit high levels of recruitment first seen in November 2010
- Northern Ireland (down 10 percent) showed slight decline year-over-year, suggesting a knock-on effect to Southern Ireland’s current economic unrest
Top Growth Regions
Lowest Growth Regions
International Trends:
Monster Employment Index Europe: increased 26 percent year-over-year, the most rapid pace seen during the current economic cycle. Industrial production related sectors led the Index in terms of annual growth in March, while notable improvements were observed across the financial services segment.
To obtain a full copy of the Monster Employment Index report for March 2011, and to access current individual data charts for each of the seven European markets tracked, please visit http://about-monster.com/employment/index/17
*Data for the month of April 2011 will be released on May 10, 2011.
By Industry
By Occupation
By Region
About The Monster Employment Index Europe
The Monster Employment Index Europe provides monthly insight into online recruitment trends across the European Union. Launched in June 2005 with data from December 2004, the Index is based on a review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large, representative selection of corporate career sites and job boards, including Monster. The Monster Employment Index’s underlying data is validated for accuracy by Research America, Inc. – an independent, third-party auditing firm – to ensure that measured online job recruitment activity is within a margin of error of +/- 1.05%.
The Index monitors online job opportunities across all European Union member countries.
The monthly reports for Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Europe are available at: http://about-monster.com/employment/index/17