A growth in confidence in the temporary market is bringing rewards for recruiters in the temp sector, says one firm.

The number of temporary workers has gone up by 71,000 to just over 1.5m, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the last quarter. Vanessa Forster, sales and marketing director of call centre specialist Teleresources, said the temporary market was looking strong due to increased client confidence.

Forster told Recruiter: "The number of temps we're placing is up 21% compared to the end of 2006, and this is because confidence in temporary workers is growing.

"We're also seeing a rise in the numbers of candidates from EU countries, who are looking to get experience over here in temporary work."

Forster warned, however, that there could be a slowdown in the number of temporary vacancies if the employment status of temps changed, as clients would have to take greater responsibility for them. According to the latest figures from ONS, the number of unemployed fell by 3,000 to 1.69m for the three months to January, continuing its downward trend.

This means that the unemployment rate was unchanged from the previous quarter at 5.5%. The employment level was 29.02m, up 18,000.

Average earnings, including bonuses, for the three-month period, were up 4.2% — up 0.2% on the three months to December. Earnings with bonuses excluded were up 3.6%, a rise of 0.1%.

There were 622,800 vacancies on average in the quarter, up 24,800 on the previous quarter.

The number of people claiming benefits fell 3,800 to 922,200 in February.

Dr John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, backed up Forster's view. "The growth in contract working is almost certainly a reflection of the increased supply of migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe. Of those migrants registered to work in the UK at least half are on temporary contracts, with many others either not registered or working as self-employed contractors."