Hays has seen City jobs rise since Easter
PRIVATE sector growth is offsetting cuts to public sector jobs, according to recruitment giant Hays, though fees earned in the UK fell six per cent in the last three months to to 30 June.
The firm said the private sector had seen a 10 per cent growth in net fees since the last quarter, with strong growth in City, pharmaceutical and corporate accounts recruitment.
The company’s operations in Asia have seen a more pronounced recovery, with like-for-like net fees up 28 per cent, boosting performance to pre-recovery levels in all Asian offices.
This growth helped lift overall net fees by eight per cent, with increases in Germany, Australia and Brazil also contributing.
Worldwide growth meant the company has predicted year-on-year growth for the first time since 2008.
Finance director Paul Venables said: “Candidate confidence has increased. The acid test for us is often accounting and finance. The strongest areas globally have been in the banking sector.
“Even so, we continue to see good levels of recruitment in education and healthcare,” said Venables.
In the UK, London still offers the bulk of opportunities, but Venables said growth had spread elsewhere in the last quarter.
“The recovery has gone across the whole of the home counties. The only weaker areas in the recovery are in the north of England and Scotland,” he said.
The firm has nevertheless cut consultant numbers by two per cent in Britain, and spent £14m on redundancies and restructuring its back offices.
The company now has just under 4,500 consultants across 28 countries. It said yesterday that non-UK business now makes up 59 per cent of net fees earned.