UK Sees Three Months of Consecutive Annual Online Recruitment Growth, According to Monster Employment Index

October 2012 Index Highlights:

• The Monster Employment Index UK reports a moderate annual increase of one percent in online recruitment in October, establishing a three-month positive growth trend
• Public sector, defence and community registers the most robust annual gain amongst sectors in October 
• By contrast, Construction and extraction is the weakest performing sector this month by measure of annual online recruitment activity, extending the negative annual growth trend initiated in July
• Online hiring for Plant and machine operators, and assemblers increases year-over-year, with vacancies for these workers increasing at the fastest pace amongst all occupations measured by the Index
• Of the regions measured by the Index, North England is the best-performing, with online hiring activity increasing for the third consecutive month

The Monster Employment Index Europe is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career web sites and online job listings across Europe. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

“While we can’t predict what will happen in the coming months, it is very encouraging to see online hiring levels increase compared to the same time last year for the third consecutive month,” said Julian Acquari, Managing Director of Monster UK & Ireland. “We’re noting some diverse areas of strength – Healthcare and social work is seeing particular stand-out growth, with increases in hiring activity for Professionals as well as Technicians.”

Industry Year-over-year Trends: 13 of the 21 industry sectors monitored by the Index exhibited annual growth in October.

• Public sector, defence, community (up 48 percent) extended the positive growth trend started last February; significant gains were seen among Technicians and associate professionals as well as Service and sales workers 

• Healthcare, social work (up 16 percent) was the second best performing industry sector and entered its third month of annual growth; increased demand was seen for both Professionals as well as Technicians and associate professionals

• Online recruitment for Transport, post and logistics (up 10 percent) continued to escalate in October, with a significant increase seen across Service and sales workers, with Technicians and associate professionals also noting some gains

• Construction and extraction (down 14 percent) was the weakest performing industry sector,  with online hiring down for the fourth straight month; softening demand was primarily seen for Elementary occupation workers

Occupation Year-over-year Trends: Six of the nine occupational groups monitored by the Index charted annual growth in October.

• Plant and machine operators, and assemblers (up four percent) remained the top performing occupational group in October, with stronger demand for the Production, manufacturing, maintenance, repair sector; online recruitment activity has been on a positive annual growth track since January 2010

• Increases in online hiring activity was also seen for Professionals (up three percent), with elevated demand in the Education, training, library; Accounting, audit, taxes; IT; and Engineering sectors

• In contrast, Elementary (down 13 percent) saw the greatest decline in annual hiring activity, extending the negative annual growth track started in September 2011; reductions were most notable for the Construction and extraction sector

Geographic year-over-year Trends: Five of the nine UK regions registered annual gains in online recruitment in October. 

• North England (up six percent) noted the highest rate of annual increase this month, prolonging the upswing to the third straight month; Accounting, audit, taxes; IT; and Sales saw the most significant increases in demand  
• Scotland (up five percent) registered its highest rate of annual increase seen since December last year, with increasing opportunities primarily in the Engineering; and Sales sectors
• East Anglia (down five percent) experienced the steepest reduction by measure of annual online hiring, establishing a sixth consecutive downward trend. Engineering; Management and consulting; Sales; and Transport, post and logistics were affected the most by the slowdown

International Trends

The Monster Employment Index Europe reported a third consecutive month of annual decline, recording a three percent decline in October, the sharpest rate of reduction seen since April 2010. Germany continued to report decelerating trends but still recorded two percent annual growth followed by Belgium and the United Kingdom (both up one percent). Environment, architecture and urbanism saw its sixth month of consecutive growth and outpaced all industries while Transport, post and logistics reported the greatest decline. Online recruitment across Education, training, library (up ten percent) remained strong in October, prolonging an eight month growth trend and ranking second among the industries. Elementary occupations (down 15 percent) reported continued reductions in annual online recruitment and placed bottom of all occupations measured by the Index.

By Industry                       

By Occupation

By Region

Monster Employment Index data for November  2012 will be released on December 11, 2012.