While the latest Report on Jobs from KMPG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation reveals a reduced rate of growth of new jobs, construction professionals remain among the most in-demand.

July’s Report on Jobs reveals weaker rises in both permanent and temporary appointments, while job vacancies have increased at slowest pace for eight months. However, the report also shows that engineering/construction remains the most in-demand staff type.

According to David Leyshon, managing director at technical recruiter CBS Butler, the construction sector is experiencing a resurgence.

Leyshon told Recruiter: “The construction sector is seeing a bounceback in terms of both private and commercial developments. We are seeing many of the projects that were shelved back online. There is increased confidence. Given that recruitment was at such a low level, any sort of bounceback has a big impact in terms of jobs creation.

“Engineering has remained relatively robust. Continued demand has been led by export-led organisations which are still capitalising on a weak sterling due to relatively low costs on product exports. The UK is increasingly seen as a good place to recruit technical people, good engineers across most engineering sectors, whether that be manufacturing or engineering firms contracted in aerospace and oil & gas.”

Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG, adds: “Surprisingly, engineering & construction is the sector where staff was most in demand, an indication of a sustained recovery in the manufacturing sector.

“However, the sharp decline in the demand for healthcare professionals comes as a direct result of government cutbacks and cost reduction in the NHS, and is a sign of things to come as the public sector prepares for more spending cuts which are likely to impact the jobs market further.”