There was continued growth of staff placements in Scotland during March 2015, albeit at a slightly slower pace, according to the latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs. Similarly, demand for staff rose but also at a slower rate.

That said, starting salaries continued to rise sharply, in part reflecting the lack of available candidates.

Highlighting the overall improvement in the health of Scotland’s labour market; the Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer registered 60.6 in March, up from 59.8 in February, marking the barometer’s highest reading in three months, although it was below the corresponding index for the UK as a whole.

A reading of 50.0 indicates no change compare with the previous month.

Donald MacRae, Chief Economist at the Bank of Scotland, commented: “Conditions in the Scottish labour market continued to improve in March this year. The number of people appointed to jobs increased, while the number of vacancies grew over the month.”

“The rate of growth in starting salaries for permanent jobs recovered strongly from February’s 15-month low. The Barometer suggests the slowdown in growth in January to March will be reversed in the coming months,” he added.

Dundee saw the sharpest increases in both permanent placements and temporary billings last month, while further decreases were seen in Aberdeen. Edinburgh registered the fastest rise in permanent starting salaries, ahead of Dundee, with the latter leading growth in hourly pay rates for temporary staff.

The most marked deterioration in permanent candidate availability was recorded in Glasgow, while the decline in temporary candidates was centred in Edinburgh.

March survey data indicated a further rise in the number of people placed in permanent jobs, with the rate of growth solid but slower than the previous month. Recruitment consultancies in Scotland, meanwhile, recorded only a marginal increase in average weekly billings from temporary staff in March.

Demand for permanent staff continued to increase, and at a strong rate, while there was a further moderation in the rate of growth of temporary staff demand, to the weakest since the same month in 2013.

In terms of occupation, the strongest demand for both permanent and temporary staff was Nursing/Medical/Care; followed by IT & Computing.