Demand for HR professionals is steadily increasing with job vacancies in financial services currently at their highest levels of 2009, according to Joslin Rowe.

Joslin Rowe’s bi-annual salary survey found a 63% surge in temporary and contract jobs in the last six months, and a 4% rise in permanent job volumes.

“While the job flow does lie heavily within temporary and contract recruitment, this increase is extremely positive in a market that has been relatively stagnant for the majority of 2009,” says Tara Ricks, managing director of Joslin Rowe.

“While talk of a market-turn becomes more commonplace, employers are awaiting clearer signs that we’re beginning to leave the recession, so they can plan for growth in 2010.” 

According to Joslin Rowe, the influx of temporary and contract positions appears to be a short-term remedy to ease pressure on under-resourced HR departments with demand for analytical, compensation and benefits professionals hitting a high to meet the year-end requirements.

And it believes that “this shift in the market shows that employers now have the budget to recruit new employees and recognise that with expanding workloads, departments left under-resourced by redundancy now need more support”.

However, while demand for HR professionals is on the rise, there has been a drop in salaries. On the permanent side average earnings have fallen by 14% over the last six months, and 1.2% on the temporary side.