Scotland’s job market is improving, with more vacancies and increasing pay, according to a bank report.
June also saw the strongest rise in the number of people appointed to permanent positions in almost six years, the Bank of Scotland said.
Aberdeen experienced the largest increase in posts filled while Dundee saw a rise in people taking up temporary jobs.
The market snapshot provided by the bank’s Labour Market Barometer showed that average pay also increased at the sharpest pace for almost six years and at a faster rate than the UK average.
Permanent salaries and hourly pay in temporary posts increased at the strongest rates in Dundee and Edinburgh.
Chief economist Donald MacRae said: “June’s Labour Market Barometer rose to its highest level since October 2007. Both the number of people appointed to permanent and temporary jobs rose in the month accompanied by sharp rises in vacancies.
“Improvements in job market conditions were spread across all sectors. These results signal a further strengthening of the recovery in the Scottish economy and bode well for employment throughout 2013.”
The IT and computing industry and nursing recorded a marked rise in permanent job vacancies in June. The weakest increase was reported in the blue collar sector, the bank said.
Demand for temporary staff increased in the nursing and medical care sector in particular.
The report, compiled by Markit, is based on a monthly survey of more than 100 recruitment and employment consultants.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The figures provide evidence that Scotland’s economy is continuing to strengthen. They follow positive indicators of growth in the last month’s labour market statistics, which marked another rise in employment.”