Salaries and hiring in the creative, marketing and communications industries are increasing, and employers are having to work harder to attract, retain and develop high quality talent, according to research by specialist recruiter Aquent.

It found that while a very high proportion of companies use freelance, temporary, contract staff as an employment strategy, less than half of companies across all sectors expect to increase their usage on the next year.

It also found that around 50% of companies are expecting to hire more permanent staff.

The research also found that salaries are also expected to rise in the coming year with the majority of employers in most sectors expecting to pay more. The average salary increase is expected to be in the range of 5-6% across all sectors.