New Jobs in January 9 Percent Higher than Last Year

LONDON, February 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Reed Job Index up 2 points to 123 in January

Job opportunities across the UK increased in January, reversing December's seasonal decline and showing a 9% increase on the same period last year, according to the latest Reed Job Index report which examines trends from over 8,000 UK recruiters.

January's Reed Job Index stands at 123, up two index points from December 2011 and 9% (10 index points) higher than January last year. The Reed Job Index is 23 per cent above the level of December 2009 when the Index's baseline was set at 100.

Salaries for new jobs fell back across the board in January, however, with the Reed Salary Index down one index point compared to December, to read 98. 

In spite of the overall rise in new opportunities, job demand dropped back across several sectors, from Banking to Energy.  Consumer-facing sectors saw the largest falls, with Hospitality & Catering jobs dropping by 33 index points compared with December. 

However, rising demand for new workers in other job sectors balanced the falls with Marketing & PR, Estate Agency, jobs in Retail, Sales, Security, Charity and Media, all experienced rising demand.

Regionally, the North East and East Midlands showed January's biggest jobs growth, while demand in Northern Ireland recovered from its dip in December, boosting the Index as a whole.

Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk, comments on the Reed Job Index for January:

"The first Reed Job Index of 2012 shows a jobs market that has grown 1% on December and 9% on the previous year with the majority of sectors showing growth on 2011. However, the Reed Jobs Index score of 123 is below the high point of November and the recovery in the jobs market continues to be a slow one.

"Nevertheless, year-on-year growth in new jobs of 9 per cent for January is encouraging and underlines the determination of UK businesses to ride out the economic storm."

About reed.co.uk:

reed.co.uk is the UK's leading online recruitment service, featuring over 110,000 jobs in Manchester, Birmingham and across the UK from more than 8,000 recruiters across 42 industry sectors.

reed.co.uk is the UK's most visited job site and was named by Experian Hitwise as the Number 1 website for Employment & Training sites throughout 2010 and between January and June 2011.

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