Scots employers more upbeat on recruitment prospects

Manpower said firms in Edinburgh, Glasgow and central Scotland were 'especially optimistic' on the jobs front. Picture: John Devlin

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Scottish companies are becoming more bullish on the outlook for hiring policy in the first employment survey to be published since the general election.

After a fall into negative sentiment in the last quarter, Scottish employers’ confidence on recruitment is now positive again, says today’s report from Manpower, the recruitment giant.

The country’s jobs optimism has risen 5 points since the last quarter and the recruitment outlook index now stands at +2 per cent – even though this is below the UK average of +5 per cent.

Today’s report says both permanent and temporary job opportunities are on the rise north of the Border, with hiring up in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, and “Silicon Glen” seeing a revival.

Jason Greaves, operations director at Manpower, said: “Edinburgh, Glasgow and central Scotland are especially optimistic this quarter.

“Strong demand for candidates in contact centres and in the banking and finance industry is driving regional jobs optimism this quarter. There are also more manufacturing opportunities for temps, and we are seeing some employers looking to revive the ‘Silicon Glen’ in Scotland’s Central Belt with electronics manufacturing opportunities.”

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Many skills are seen as having been lost in the latter sector when it declined following the dotcom bust early in the new millennium, but Manpower said it was noticing renewed interest in rebuilding the industry.

In terms of Scotland’s jobs outlook trailing the UK, the survey says there is continuing fallout in the energy industry from the near-three year decline of the oil price.

Greaves added: “Aberdeen is still suffering from the oil industry’s slowdown, and drivers of heavy goods vehicles remain in short supply throughout the region.”

However, he said: “Nonetheless, Scotland’s jobs optimism has increased by five points since last quarter and employers are more willing to invest in upskilling even temporary workers, with key skills such as soldering. This is a marked improvement on last quarter’s sentiment.”

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Manpower said that the general election uncertainty might appear unhelpful to employers. But it said it believed that the “shock result” of a hung parliament offered hope for businesses who had feared the impact of a hard Brexit on hiring that could leave activity in some industries to stall and “the UK economy going into a tailspin”.

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