Professional recruitment firms now have 13 per cent more vacancies on their books than this time last year according to new survey data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies.

This annual increase is in line with reports from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, which show that UK economic growth picked up in the three months to May. APSCo's data also coincides with the latest ONS figures which show that the number of people in work has increased by 114,000 in the three months to April, driving UK employment to 31.05 million.

David Sadler, Acorn’s IT Operations Manager, said: “With digital, tech and IT skill shortages dominating the ICT arena, it is reassuring to see that professional recruitment is up 13 per cent with IT leading the field.

"We are continually witnessing an increasing number of companies approaching us on a regular basis to help them recruit people with the right digital, tech and IT skills to support their expansion plans. Therefore, it is incredibly important to remember that digital skills are at the heart of every business, not just IT focused companies, this newest statistic is testament.

“We work extremely hard to ensure we are meeting the demands of the market and growing consumer confidence by devising innovative programmes such as our IT Bootcamps, utilising our Global Search Division to recruit highly-sought after candidates or delivering ICT specialist apprenticeships and Job Growth Wales schemes. It is our aim that we help to shape the ICT agenda both in Wales and further afield, working closely with the Welsh Government, our clients and other specialist organisations, to ensure we identify future skill sets and thus support the IT sector in the professional recruitment sphere.”

Dave Matthews, operations director at Gwent-based Centric Recruitment, said: "It's certainly good news that there has been sector growth within our industry.

"Encouragingly for us we have seen overall growth in our business across all sectors hit above 20 per cent. This is in part down to the stabilising economy, but more so the fact that we as a recruitment agency have strategically adapted to what employers want from a specialist partner in this area.

"By ensuring our dedicated divisions across multiple employment sectors are led by dedicated and experience professionals we are able to source and provide employers with the most appropriate candidates for their needs.

"A good recruitment agency needs to understand the needs of its clients otherwise it is not best placed to serve them. Because we have invested in the right specialists we have seen significant growth over the last 12 months in the professional services sector including IT and we are now hitting a customer satisfaction rate of more than 90 per cent. The news therefore of growth in our industry is welcomed, but we want to keep hitting above this as we have done through providing the best recruitment service in Wales."

The latest data from APSCo reveals that year-on-year growth in the professional staffing market continues to climb across many of the trade association's core sector groups. Permanent vacancies across finance and accounting, IT and engineering are all up year-on-year (10 per cent, 14 per cent and 12 per cent and respectively).

The rapid growth of the IT sector, which APSCo has reported in recent months, is in keeping with research from Deloitte which found 'the maker community' - the name given to people who apply 'DIY culture' to business and technology in a collaborative and experimental environment - is estimated to support up to 298,000 jobs across the country and contribute GBP18bn to the UK economy.

APSCo's figures also reveal that median salaries across all professional sectors have risen by 5.7 per cent year-on-year.

This figure is characterised by notable fluctuations in terms of sector, with engineering and finance, for example, recording uplifts of seven per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively. This rise in remuneration within the professional sectors exceeds the average rise in earnings as reported by the ONS, which found that wages grew at an annual rate of 2.7 per cent in the three months to April 2015.

John Nurthen, executive director, Global Research for Staffing Industry Analysts, which compiles the report for APSCo, comments:

"To see such solid growth in demand across all three of the main professional segments suggests that the lift in salaries reported of 5.7% might be only beginning of a period of wage inflation. This will come as a shock to many businesses where wages have been subdued since the global financial crisis."

Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, said: "The fact that wages have jumped so significantly across the professional sectors is a sure sign that market confidence is soaring. Organisations are scrambling to get their hands on the brightest talent, and those that can offer attractive remuneration packages stand a fighting chance. The CBI's latest growth indicator found that economic expansion in the three months to May reached its strongest rate since the same month last year, and against this backdrop it is unsurprising that vacancies are up 13 per cent during the same period."

Temporary and contract vacancies remain resilient across the professional staffing market with opportunities up by two per cent across the board year-on-year. Vacancies across media and marketing, however, are particularly strong, rising by six per cent. This is in line with PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2015-2019, which found the sector is currently enjoying a four-year boom, with estimates that the UK entertainment and media sector will be worth GBP66.6bn in 2019, up from GBP56.9bn in 2014.