The Recruitment Employment Confederation/KPMG has said that the number of job vacancies in the market is rising at the fastest rate since 1998. However, the study also said that recruitment consultants reported that staff availability continued to decline.

Tom Hadley, director of policy at the REC, said that promoting the more often overlooked sectors would be the key to future growth.

“Promoting careers in sectors such as hospitality would be good. It’s not a great entry salary but after a couple of years there’s more opportunity, and you could have a great deal of responsibility after five years. The idea of career progression needs to be promoted in industries that people seem reluctant to dip a toe into.”

He added: “There are skills shortages across all sectors. This again underlines just how critical the issue of skills shortages is becoming, as businesses will not be able to contribute to economic growth if they cannot find the skilled workers they need.

“Part of the solution is to develop a careers guidance network that is fit for purpose. There’s been a disconnect between careers advice since what was available was replaced with a website. People need to be made aware of the growing sectors and what skills will be needed in the future, they also need to be taught the mechanics of finding work.”

Bernard Brown, a partner at KPMG, said: “Job placements have increased so much since the end of the summer that people would be forgiven for thinking we are on an upward curve, with no sign of employment growth tailing off. As organisations gain confidence it’s a trend that is likely to continue, but we should also be wary that the positive signs of recent months have not yet faced a stern test.”