We have great news to bring you as we kick off what could be a hugely important year for the recruitment industry. The Aspen Index of jobs available in the UK for in-house recruiters rose for the seventh consecutive month in December 2009 but for the first time saw the index grow compared to the same month the previous year.
This is in our opinion a watershed moment when we can say there is annual growth in recruitment opportunities for the first time. While we are still someway from achieving the peak figures for the Index that we saw at 171 in July 2008, the Index finished 2009 on 68 points, 2 points higher than the same time in 2008.
The monthly data also showed that the proportion of recruitment jobs of all HR roles advertised hit the highest levels the Index has seen for 16 months at 14%.
Our data has now been tried, tested, and analysed for a couple of years and the figures for December 2009 are as impotant as any we’ve released. They demonstrate no seasonal slowdown, the seventh month of consecutive growth and back up the feelgood feeling that we’re all getting day to day in our jobs again. It would seem that it’s exciting to work in recruitment again.
It is still hard to find a new role but the important news is that people are finding jobs, good jobs, and ones that are better paid again after over twelve really hard months.
The markets driving recruitment remain consistent, banking and energy, but they are dragging other sectors along with them and are influencing other businesses. The executive search businesses that support these markets are also aggressively in the market and hiring new talent at this time so fingers crossed for a much improved year in 2010.
Tags: Aspen Index
