Scotland's labour market continued to improve last month amid strong demand for permanent staff, but continuing weakness in temporary billings and a surprise easing of salary growth both contrasted with trends South of the Border.
There was a sharp rise in availability of all types of staff in Aberdeen, whereas Edinburgh and Dundee both saw a tightening of the market.
The latest reading of the Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer was the lowest recorded since August 2013 and below the equivalent index for the UK as a whole for the second straight month.
After easing in January to a 22-month low, growth of permanent placements in Scotland re-accelerated in February to a sharp pace that was the fastest since last October. The increase was also broadly in line with the UK average.
Billings for temporary and contract staff rose marginally, reversing the slight decline seen at the start of the year. However, Scotland's increase in temporary billings was far less marked than that seen at the UK level, where growth raced ahead at its fastest in five months.
Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, said: "February's Barometer at 59.8 was virtually unchanged from January's 60.0 showing the labour market continuing to improve but at a slightly lower rate than last year."
But he said with placements, vacancies and salaries all still rising, "these results show businesses with enough confidence to invest for the future, and suggest the Scottish economy continues to grow".
The demand for permanent staff in Scotland was the most marked in four months. As has been the case every month since November 2009, demand for temporary staff in Scotland increased during February. However, the rate of growth continued to ease, slowing for the fifth time in the past seven months to weakest for almost two years. Conversely, data at the UK level showed a further acceleration, to the fastest since last September.
Availability of candidates for permanent Scottish vacancies again fell sharply in February, although at a much slower rate compared with the previous month, while temp availability fell at its slowest since last April but was still substantial.
Edinburgh led growth in permanent placements for the second straight month, while Aberdeen recorded the only decline.
Sharp improvements in permanent and temporary candidate availability were recorded in Aberdeen, which contrasted with trends in both Edinburgh and Dundee where declines appeared on both fronts.
Edinburgh also recorded the most marked rise in permanent starting salaries ahead of Dundee, with the latter posting the steepest increase in temp pay rates.
Although still sharp overall, the rate of growth of permanent starting salaries eased further from last December's near-record high during the latest survey period. The rate of salary inflation remained in excess of the long-run series trend, but was the slowest seen since November 2013 and below the average recorded over the current two-year sequence of rising permanent salaries.
At the UK level, meanwhile, permanent salaries increased at a sharp rate that was unchanged from the previous month and above that recorded in Scotland. Despite having eased, the rate of growth of permanent salaries continued to outstrip that of hourly pay for temporary staff. Temp pay rates rose at a modest pace that was little-changed from January's 21-month low.
Scottish recruitment consultancies reported a broad-based increase in demand for permanent staff in February, though the rise in blue-collar vacancies was only marginal.
Both permanent and temporary staff were most in demand in the nursing/medical/ care sector. Close behind in the temp rankings was IT & Computing, where growth remained strong despite having eased further from the record highs seen at the end of last year.
Scotland's unemployment rate of 3per cent, its lowest since September 2008, placed it seventh in the regional ranking. The number of claimants north of the border fell by 3,200 during January to 81,100.
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