The Ashdown Group Jobs Index (AGJI) tracks the number of advertised permanent jobs at the Ashdown Group and the leading Internet job boards within the IT, Marketing, Accountancy and HR sectors. Data is compiled throughout the month and released in the first few days of the following month.

August 31st 2010:
8569
points

Change since July

Headline Figure:

The number of jobs in marketing, accountancy and information technology all grew during August with HR being the only sector to witness a small dip. The Ashdown Group Job Index is at a higher point than at any time during the past year, now sitting at 8569.

Summary - Job Market Continues Upward Trend

During August the IT job market grew 1.33%, the Accountancy sector grew by 1.69%, the fourth consecutive month of growth and the number of Marketing sector jobs grew by 2.71%. The only sector to see a fall was the HR department dropping by-3.63%.

Short-term and medium range forecast from John Lynes, Director of the Ashdown Group: 

'Against all expectations, the demand for jobs in August rose. I had previously predicted that there would be a seasonal downturn as is typical at this time of year and coupled with so many doom and gloom stories circulating in the press – a drop in demand appeared inevitable. I am very glad to say that this has not materialised. We are however witnessing a slow-down in growth and I am concerned this may take the job market into reverse. During the summer months the time to hire from initial vacancy to placement had lengthened. This is to be expected during the holiday season, interviews take longer to arrange, fewer candidates are available and most hiring decisions require more than one person for approval.

'The next three months of the year usually produce an increase in the number of jobs being advertised. I am positive about the short term outlook for all sectors and don’t foresee any dramatic change in demand.'

Accountancy Recruitment Market Analysis

'The accountancy job market has performed well through the summer seeing growth of 1.69% in August and growth of 13.38% since April 2010. During the first third of the year, the accountancy sector had trailed the growth curve of the IT, Marketing and HR sectors.

'Confidence and job optimism have started to grow within the accounts department and as a result, we are starting to see some churn as accountancy personnel look to leave their jobs to progress their careers.'

Marketing Recruitment Market Analysis

'The marketing sector has seen another month of growth in demand, with 2.71% growth in the number of jobs being advertised in August. Business confidence and consumer spending are likely to play a part in the continued success of the marketing job market. Economic data would suggest that businesses are faring well through difficult times and actually witnessing a small amount of growth. The FTSE 100 index has pushed higher over recent weeks and the Bank of England has maintained interest base rates, both good for business confidence. Whether this optimism will continue is yet to be seen but if marketing departments hold their nerve (and budgets) we could see yet further growth in the sector towards the end of the year. It will be interesting to see the results of the results of the Bellwether report next month.'

Information Technology Recruitment Market Analysis

'The demand for IT workers in the UK continues unabated, albeit with modest growth of 1.33% during August 2010, 37.28% higher than August 2009.

'Based on the current trend, I continue to predict strong demand for IT staff for the remainder of 2010, further salary increases and a strong contract market.

'GCSE and 'A' level results were released during August and these paint a worrying picture for future supply of talent into the UK information technology market. The number of students taking ICT based GCSE’s nearly halved compared to the 2006 figures. With strong demand for IT staff, we are on course to experience a UK IT skills void if more is not done to attract students to IT related courses and with a proposed cap on TIER 1 immigration - longer term, UK based companies will begin to struggle to fill their IT positions.'

HR Recruitment Market Analysis

'Demand for HR staff has shrunk by -3.63% during August. The sector has been subdued for the past 3 months after a fairly strong first half of the year. Concern is mounting that the lack of demand for HR staff represents the sentiment of demand for hiring in general. We have not seen the churn within HR departments that has been witnessed within the marketing, accountancy or IT jobs markets'

Conclusion: 

'Predictions from the OECD are that UK economic growth in Q3 2010 will outstrip that of the US, Japan, Germany and in fact all of the G7 nations. The job market within our specialist areas has actually grown during August, despite being a month that typically sees a downturn in vacancies being advertised.

'We have witnessed an increase in the amount of time taken to hire and where this could be presented as a slowing of growth in the job market, we are of the opinion that this is a seasonal slow down.

'Against the grain of negative sentiment, we believe the job market will remain strong during Q3 2010.'