The number of new public sector jobs offered in the last month continued to decline, but this drop was outstripped by the rise in private sector job offers.

According to the Reed Jon Index, the number of new jobs on offer across the country rose by three percent compared to last month, to reach its highest level since the Index began. Job demand has risen seven per cent compared to 11 months ago, and beats the previous highpoint recorded in February.

The number of jobs on offer rose in all regions except Scotland where the index was the same as the previous month and Northern Ireland where the index dropped 3 points.

Salaries for new jobs slipped further back compared to last month to give a Reed Salary Index reading of 94, two points below last month. While job numbers have risen, the number of applicants per job has risen at a faster rate, and salaries have dropped below the level when the Index began in December 2009, when the Salary Index was set at 100.

Each month the Reed Job Index tracks the number of new job opportunities and the salaries on offer compared to the previous month and against a baseline of 100 set in December last year. The Reed Job Index is based on data from the UK’s largest job board, reed.co.uk, which every day lists over 90,000 job opportunities from 8,000 recruiters across 37 career sectors throughout the UK.