THE Scottish labour market weakened in November with the number of permanent jobs rising at the slowest pace in 14 months, a leading survey indicates today.
The latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs also said the number of temporary staff billings fell for the first time in 27 months. Concurrently, recruitment agencies reported a marked easing in rates of pay inflation during the latest survey period.
The Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer – a composite indicator designed to provide a single figure snapshot of labour market conditions – came in at 51.4 in November, and indicated a further improvement in Scottish job market conditions.
However, down from 53.9 in October, the barometer was at its lowest level for a year amid deteriorating economic conditions.
A reading of higher than 50 indicates expansion while a figure below 50 signals contraction of the labour market.
Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, said: "Although the Scottish labour market improved in November the barometer showed its lowest figure in a year. Weaker trends in appointments to jobs coupled with a slowing in the numbers of vacancies for both permanent and temporary positions show the effects of the global slowdown percolating through to the Scottish economy."
The Bank of Scotland report show says Edinburgh-based recruitment agencies reported the strongest increase in permanent staff placements in November. Meanwhile, the fastest rise in temp staff billings was registered in Aberdeen, the UK's oil capital.Both permanent and temporary candidate availability rose at the strongest pace in Aberdeen.
Recruitment consultants in Edinburgh reported the fastest rise in permanent salaries, while the strongest increase in hourly pay rates for temporary staff was seen at Aberdeen-based firms.
The report also says permanent staff salaries increased further in November, but pay inflation was only marginal and at the slowest pace of 2011 so far.
Hourly pay rates for temporary workers rose at the slowest pace since January.
Permanent staff placements increased for the 14th consecutive month in November, but the latest rise was the weakest in this period of expansion, the survey shows.
The number of people placed into temporary and contract work fell for first time since August 2009.
Six out of eight employment sectors recorded higher permanent vacancies in November.
The exceptions were the hotel and catering and secretarial and clerical sectors. Scottish recruitment agencies reported greater demand for temps in seven sectors during November.
The secretarial and clerical sector was the only category to post lower temp vacancies.
Official figures out last week showed unemployment in Scotland rose by 25,000 to 229,000 in the three months from August to October
The number of people claiming benefit fell by 500 in November, although the level is up 7100 on a year ago and the total is 143,000.
The Scottish unemployment rate stands at 8.5%, which is higher than the UK average of 8.3%.
Separate figures showed private sector employment rose year-on-year by 30,300 in Scotland in the third quarter, outweighing a fall of 23,500 in public sector jobs over the same period.
The private sector, including all financial institutions, now accounts for 77.7% of Scottish employment – the highest share since devolution.
The rise in unemployment figures prompted First Minister Alex Salmond to call for an urgent UK-wide summit involving finance ministers from the Westminster government and three devolved administrations, to agree an immediate programme of jobs creation.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article