Contractor pay on the rise in Scotland

Contractor pay rose for people working in Scotland last month, according to the latest Report on Jobs from the Bank of Scotland.

The report's overall barometer for labour market conditions read 50.4 for January, a minor improvement on the 50.3 recorded in December. It also came in at above the UK equivalent for the beginning of the year.

But contractor pay growth outstripped this gradual increase, with rates rising further than inflation and at the fastest pace for three months.

Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, commented: “The Scottish labour market showed a small but important improvement in January. Despite slowing growth in the eurozone and the UK, the number of people placed into permanent jobs increased after December's decline, while the number of vacancies for permanent staff was broadly unchanged from the end of last year.”

Meanwhile, staff in the permanent sector saw a rise in staff placements, although the growth rate remained below the long-run series average and salaries were found to have fallen for the first time in 13 months, suggesting that things aren't going as well as they are for those receiving contractor pay.