Businesses scrambling to hire staff in heated job market despite recession picking up

Businesses are still desperate for staff, with increases in adverts for occupations including childminders, school secretaries and dental practitioners, new research suggests.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said there were 154,000 new job adverts in the week of 17-23 October, slightly lower than a month earlier.

The number of adverts has remained stable at between 1.4 to 1.5m since mid-August, it was reported.