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Independent professionals using SAIL's Financial Planning Services that weren't distracted by the political headlines that dominated last month will have likely discovered plenty of opportunities for work in their given contracting discipline, at least if the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs for May 2015 is anything to go by. The regular survey found the Midlands and London to be especially good sources of contracts during the General Election month, as contractor agency billings and rates rose and all contracting disciplines saw healthy levels of opportunity - and contractor availability hit a seven-month low. KPMG Partner Bernard Brown said that there was a "slight slowdown" in the UK job market over the month, "as those on boards took time to digest the election result and work out the ramifications for their business." However, he added that "This pause did not dampen temporary staff placements, and temp billings rose for a twenty-fifth consecutive month." Good levels of demand were seen for core contracting disciplines, accounting & financial figuring in fourth place in the overall 'league table', up from ninth last year. IT & computing ranked sixth and engineering and construction also appeared in the top 10, managing respective eighth and ninth positions. It is thought that the rising number of contractor placements is attributable to client firms' increased workloads. While there has been a continued growth in business and therefore order volumes, companies are struggling to find the skilled staffs to fulfil them - which is presenting contractors with opportunities to meet the shortfall. The story was reported on the ContractorCalculator website, CEO Dave Chaplin observing: "Contractor demand growth is in the UK hubs of engineering and financial excellence - London and the Midlands - so contractors with the right skills have it all to gain from focusing on winning work in these locations." However, while many numbers in the survey made welcome reading for contractors drawing upon SAIL's Financial Planning Services, there were some less encouraging developments - such as the growth in demand for IT contractors slowing to a pace unseen since July 2013. There was, though, a shortage of Java and Development contractors, suggesting that in certain skills areas, even technology contractors still have much reason to be heartened.
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