The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released new data suggesting that recruitment agencies are likely to see an increase in the number of part-time vacancies available. During the three months to June 2012 employment gained, with 46,000 people finding work. With the levels of employment up, particularly in the part-time work sector, the British labour force is seeing welcome growth.
For the quarter year to June, the ONS said that unemployment levels dropped to 2.56 million, an 8% unemployment rate that contrasts with the higher 8.2% noted in the previous quarter. Part-time work was significant in the rise in employment, with an extra 16,000 positions becoming available. This means that part-time workers in the UK have now grown to record levels of 1.42 million.
Tom Vosa, an employment sector expert at National Australia Bank, expressed that one reason why a plethora of jobs had been seen was due to the London Olympics. “As the ONS have made clear, there’s an Olympic Games effect, so the difficulty for the market running up to it was would it be seasonally adjusted out or not, and in the event they haven’t. So the expectation will be that this [decrease in unemployment] is short-lived and will pop back up again in maybe August or September,” he said.
For recruitment agencies up and down the country, a large variety of part-time positions are likely to be noted, with companies wanting to bolster their staff numbers without taking on the expense of permanent full-time staff.
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