Strong demand for engineering and construction staff in January

There was more demand for engineering and construction workers in January than any other sector apart from IT and manufacturing, according to the monthly Report on Jobs.

The research, from professional services firm KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, shows that demand for permanent engineering and construction staff was at 60.3 in January, on a scale where anything above 50 represents growth on the previous month.

Demand for temporary engineering and construction staff was even more marked last month, at 63.6, the report shows.

The recruitment consultancies questioned for the survey, compiled by Markit, reported a shortage of both permanent and temporary engineers during January.

The growth in demand for jobs was reflected across all sectors with permanent staff placements and temporary contracts growing at the fastest rate for six and seven months respectively.

Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG, described January’s figures as “encouraging”.

“Employers across all sectors have been expanding their workforce in January, with no real pressure building on wage inflation,” he said.

“Importantly, there was a real bounce from the previous month’s figures for blue collar, engineering and IT related jobs.”

But Brown warned that it was “too early to speculate” whether these are the signs of a private sector led recovery.

“With looming public sector job cuts, the VAT rise and slowing economic growth, the UK job market is likely to remain volatile over the coming months,” he said.