Are you looking for an engineering job?

If so, there was plenty of positive news this week. New research, published by the BBC, showed that the employment market in the UK is ?on the road to recovery? with the engineering industry one of the main sectors driving a demand for new staff.

Job market ?on road to recovery?

A survey of recruitment consultants and employers conducted in December found that permanent staff vacancies are rising at their fastest level in four months. The KPMG-led report, sponsored by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, also found that demand for temporary staff in December saw its biggest rise in six months.
According to the BBC, ?the report claims to provide the most up to date picture of the labour market.? One of the roles of the survey is to highlight the skills that employers report are in short supply. In December 2010, the top three skills recruiters required for permanent staff were sales (including construction sales), project management, and engineering.

In addition, four main sectors were identified as being responsible for the increase in demand for new staff. As well as computing, professional and accounting jobs, the engineering sector reported one of the largest increases in permanent staff vacancies. This is, of course, great news if you are looking for a new engineering job in 2011.

KPMG sound note of caution

Bernard Brown, head of business services at KPMG, said the private sector had been mainly responsible for the overall improvement, but the labour market was now entering "a critical phase with two big question marks".

He added: "First the impact of the government cutbacks in public sector spend and employment, which should start to bite over the coming months.

"Second the impact of the recent VAT increase, and whether this will affect UK consumer demand and job creation."