Yorkshire behind in recruit market

Yesterday, Hays confirmed that Yorkshire is one of the weaker UK markets, and this becomes particularly apparent outside Leeds.

However, Hays finance director Paul Venables said the company’s headcount in Yorkshire has risen by five per cent year on year, which reflects the level of business growth Hays expects to see in the region over the next six to 12 months.

Hays, which employs 200 people in Yorkshire, including 100 in Leeds, revealed that the recovering construction and property markets had helped to lift first half pre-tax profit by 10 per cent.

“We’ve made more money in the UK in the first half than we made in the whole of the previous year,” chief executive Alistair Cox said, after announcing that half-year pre-tax profit rose to £62.5m from £57m a year earlier.

Mr Venables said: “Our Yorkshire business is up six per cent year on year, which is better than a year ago, when it was down four per cent. The strongest area in Yorkshire is property and construction, which is up 15 per cent year on year.” Hays said growth was notably strong in the East of England, London, Midlands, North West, South and Scotland and Northern Ireland.

A Hays spokesman said growth in Scotland over the last six months had been around 20 per cent. The spokesman said the Yorkshire economy had less activity in the hi-tech space, compared with other parts of the UK. However, there has been more demand for accountants, finance directors and architects.