The UK’s engineering, manufacturing and construction sectors are among the key contributors to a decline in UK unemployment, according to recruitment giant Hays.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures out today shows UK unemployment fell 26,000 in the quarter to May to 2.45m, although the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in June increased by 24,500 to 1.52m.

Charles Logan, director at Hays told Recruiter: “While it is positive to see unemployment levels have fallen and that public sector job losses have been offset by new jobs in the private sector, the UK economy needs this job creation to continue. Tough times continue for the public sector where cuts are being made but we remain optimistic about the future - in fact Hays has seen some fantastic opportunities for job seekers, across both the public sector and private sector.

“This is supported by the latest REC/KPMG report that found the engineering and construction sector have the strongest growth, for both permanent and temporary workers. We expect this to continue due to an increase in the number residential homebuilding projects.

“The UK clearly has more difficult and mixed conditions with continued growth in the private sector, but the tough parts continue to be public sector where cuts are being made. We remain optimistic and there are still some fantastic opportunities for jobseekers across both the public and private sectors.”

Andy Hogarth, chief executive of Staffline Group, which acquiredwelfare-to-work provider FourstaR Employment & Skills earlier this year (now rebranded as EOS), told Recruiter: “The government shouldn’t stop firms creating jobs by having lots of red tape. It’s more of a ‘macro’ thing — cut down on red tape so that it is easy to employ more people. They should probably let private enterprise get on and create jobs.”

Daniel Callaghan, director of global talent marketplace MBA & Company, says: “In our experience, there has certainly been an improvement in the number of companies taking on full-time staff in recent months, but business confidence is still low and there is every chance next month’s job figures could be less positive.

“The current downward unemployment trend is by no means definitive. Sentiment remains key for employers and sentiment is still pretty weak. The jobs market has changed irreversibly in recent years. There has been a paradigm shift within recruitment and companies’ general approach to employing staff.

“More and more companies, both large and small, are increasingly turning to consultancy and contract work rather than taking on new permanent staff.”

According to Matthew Sanders, CEO of procurer of temporary agency labour de Poel, UK firms have increasingly turned to temporary agency labour to fill talent shortages with their latest statistics showing that the use of temporary agency labour has grown by 18% compared with the same time last year.

“We know that employing temporary agency workers can be a great way to fill skills gaps in the workforce when short term labour is needed. Therefore when business starts to pick up organisations are likely to turn to temporary agency labour to pick up the extra workload.”

Tom Lovell, group managing director of specialist recruitment consultancy Reed, says: “Reed saw an upturn in the temporary jobs market in June 2011, with temporary workers placed up 3% compared to May this year and up 8% year-on-year.

“Another positive sign in June was that the number of interviews for permanent roles was up by 2% on the same period last year. The Reed Job Index, which tracks job opportunities across the country, also shows that job opportunities advertised were up 3% compared to May this year, and up a remarkable 21% when compared to June 2010.”

Phil Sheridan, managing director, Robert Half UK, adds: “This is the fourth consecutive month that we have seen positive gains in the employment market, with unemployment down 0.1% to 7.7% this quarter.

“The statistics also indicate that the private sector has been successful in offsetting many of the government job losses as many industries again turn their attention to growth. However, the increase in the number of people working part time because they have been unable to find full-time jobs is a cause of some concern, although this can often provide a bridge to full-time employment.”