Graduates welcome placements boost - graduate jobs

Graduates will welcome a rise in the number of people placed in jobs by recruitment agencies during July.

A new report shows that the areas in which potential employees are most sought after are construction, IT and engineering.

But the increase was nevertheless "subdued" with the rate of growth at its slowest level for eight months, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said.

The hospitality and healthcare sectors experienced the weakest demand for staff, the REC shows.

Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, said: "These figures show that the jobs market is continuing to perform well despite general weakness in the UK economy.

"We have now had two years of continuous growth and employers are still continuing to hire staff, albeit not in the numbers needed to radically reduce unemployment.

"Employment is just 1% off its pre-recession peak but the economy is still struggling at 4% down in comparison with 2007/2008 figures. The UK's flexible labour market is a key reason why employment is continuing to grow."

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