Scotland outperforms UK on jobs

Scotland’s jobs market continued to grow last month, a report today reveals, but the pace of expansion tailed off amid a slowdown in the economy.

In its latest labour market survey, Bank of Scotland (BoS) said both permanent and temporary staff placements grew during September, reflecting greater client demand, but the rates of growth fell to 11 and four-month lows respectively. Candidate availability continued to rise.

The report’s main barometer – designed to provide a snapshot of general labour market conditions – eased to 53.3 in September from 53.9 a month earlier. Any figure above 50 denotes growth. Scotland also continued to outperform the UK as a whole last month.

Donald MacRae, chief economist at BoS, said: “Given the slowdown in the developed and European economies, it may be challenging to maintain both the improving trend and the difference with the UK into 2012.”

Dundee saw the strongest rise in permanent staff placements.