Scotland sees double-digit growth in contract and permanent vacancies

The data, provided by recruitment software company, Innovantage, revealed a strong surge in demand for permanent professionals across a number of sectors including engineering and manufacturing and property and construction, which both increased by 37 per cent and retail which grew by 34 per cent. Contract vacancy figures increased for both engineering and manufacturing (36 per cent) and retail (30 per cent).

Moya Rylands, regional director at APSCo said: “These are a strong set of figures for Scotland and they reflect the overall fall in unemployment levels within the region over the course of this year.

“On the retail front, there is still some way to go as Scotland still lags behind the rest of the UK in retail sales growth, according to recent figures from the Retail Sales Index for Scotland.

“There is good news on the manufacturing front, with the recent announcement of the development of a Lightweight Manufacturing Centre, in Westway, Renfrew, which is the precursor to a National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland. This is a very positive development both for the region and for the manufacturing sector.”