Sharp jobs decline reversed

EMPLOYMENT in the private sector is expected to rise in the coming months, economists predicted yesterday.

The number of private sector firms reporting vacancies increased last month with 11% of all companies saying they were advertising positions.

The Economic and Social Research Institute said the upturn indicated that the sharp decline in vacancies experienced in August was a seasonal effect.

The number of service sector firms with vacancies increased by 10% to 15% in September.

The FAS/ESRI Employment and Vacancies Survey said: “The increase in economy-wide vacancies in September reflected a significant increase in the percentage of service sector firms reporting vacancies.

“The increase experienced by the services sector was sufficient to counteract the decreases experienced in all of the other sectors surveyed.”

The FAS/ESRI survey also found employers in the industry and retail sectors believe employment levels in their firms will fall rather than rise over the coming months.

But construction and service sector firms are optimistic about future employment levels in their companies.

The survey, which studies vacancy trends at regular intervals during the year, also identified which vacancies the various sectors found hardest to fill.

The most frequently cited difficult-to-fill vacancies in each sector in September 2005 were:

* Construction: quantity surveyors.

* Industry: sales representatives and managers.

* Retail: managers and sales representatives.

* Services: managers.