The most advantageous place to form a limited company for contractors for certain sectors may not be London, but instead Scotland, at least according to the findings of the September 2014 Report on Jobs from the Bank of Scotland, as also reported by the ContractorCalculator website.
North of the border, it was increasing demand from the oil and gas industry in Aberdeen, as well as a shortage of contractors in Dundee’s video games development centre, that largely powered the available opportunities for independent workers. That Dundee was also where contractor rates went up sharpest during the month illustrates the extent of the city’s skills shortages. However, the period also saw a decline in demand and contractor agency billings in the Edinburgh financial sector.
Dave Chaplin, ContractorCalculator CEO, observed: “Two of the three main contractor centres of excellence in Scotland, oil and gas and video games, are performing strongly. These sectors offer opportunities to contractors throughout the UK, as there are not enough suitably skilled local candidates to meet demand.”
Although there was a slight fall during the month for the Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer that gauges the wellbeing of Scotland’s labour market as a whole, its overall outlook remains highly positive, with Bank of Scotland chief economist Donald MacRae explaining that September’s Barometer had shown a continuing increase in the number of both permanent and temporary appointments, albeit at a rate slightly shy of past highs.
He continued: “The Barometer is showing almost four years of monthly improvement resulting in the rate of unemployment in September of 5.5 per cent. The Scottish economic recovery continues.”
The report’s league table that ranked levels of demand by sector placed the core contracting disciplines of IT & computing and engineering & construction in second and third place respectively. Ranking sixth was accounts & financial, reflecting slightly lower activity as of late in the Scottish financial sector.
Remaining in eighth place in the demand league table – for the fourth month in a row – was the executive & professional category, its score of 50 indicating a level of demand unchanged from the month before.
September also saw another drop in overall contractor availability, and at one of the survey’s steepest-ever rates.
Chaplin continued, in food for thought for many a person considering the formation of a limited company for contractors: “For some months now, Scotland has been experiencing increasing contractor candidate shortages, offering new contract opportunities to contractors elsewhere in the UK who are willing to relocate.”
“Once the financial sector is back on trend, then Scotland’s contract market will be firing on all cylinders. The challenge then facing clients will be to entice contractors from elsewhere in the UK and overseas to move.”