SMEs plan to create nearly half a million new jobs

The accountancy, customer service and financial services sectors were all affected, as was the banking sector which has been in decline for the past five months. Not surprisingly, demand for new staff in the public sector remained flat and is nearly half the level it was when the Index first began.

However, the retail sector is now at its highest point with vacancies 52% above the benchmark figure set 19 months ago. There was also increased job demand in Construction, Human Resources, IT & Telecoms, Transport & Logistics, Purchasing and Motoring & Automotive.

London and the South East of England registered a dip in demand, as did the North East, East Anglia and Northern Ireland. Yorkshire and Humberside, on the other hand, along with the South West, Scotland and Wales, showed increased job demand and in the East Midlands, demand was at its highest level since the start of the Index.

The MD of reed.co.uk, Martin Warnes, said the economy is showing residual fragility which is dampening demand for recruitment and restraining salaries. Despite this, job demand is 20% above the level seen this time last year.

Job demand could continue to grow over the coming year as research from GE Capital shows SMEs intend to create 470,000 new opportunities.

46% of UK SMEs are optimistic about the prospects for growth in their sector. However, micro businesses are a lot less optimistic than their medium sized counterparts. 56% of medium sized businesses are positive about the coming year's prospects but that drops to just 39% of the smallest firms.

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