Results from the Monster Employment Index indicate an active online recruitment market continuing an upward growth trend.

The monthly analysis of millions of online jobs shows an increase of five points from the November figure to a level of 174 points in December. Monster puts the continuing growth partly down to a greater online job availability in the marketing, PR and media; and banking, finance, insurance sectors – the latter bouncing back from a significant dip in November. The index also showed a five point increase from November in HR roles coming in at 201 points for December.

There was notably higher demand for elementary occupations; and technicians and associate professionals too. Overall, the index is up 45 points, or 35 per cent, compared to December 2006.

Andrea Bertone, regional director, Monster Worldwide Europe said. “The index’s stepwise growth since October suggests that the majority of UK industries are still recruiting, although a tight labour market is also a key driver of online recruitment. The UK’s low unemployment rate indicates that competition is high for top talent and employers are looking online to source the best candidates.”

Regionally, East Anglia and London experienced the strongest increases.

This week, HR Zone reported on research claiming that Monday 7 January was the busiest day of the year to search for a new job.