DEMAND for staff remains strong, with increasing vacancies for permanent and temporary workers, a report shows.

Despite the optimistic picture on jobs, the availability of staff fell last month, especially for permanent posts, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said.

Its survey of 400 recruitment firms revealed the biggest increase in permanent jobs was in the North and the Midlands.

Vacancies particularly increased for engineers and computer staff, while the slowest rise was in the hotel and catering sectors.

REC chief executive, Kevin Green, said: "The jobs market is ending the year on a high with appointments and vacancies at levels not seen since February.

"In all parts of the UK, recruiters are reporting increasing demand, so clearly businesses continue to seek growth in their workforces."

Mr Green said the biggest concern for next year was the increasing skills shortage, adding: "We need engineers to deliver infrastructure projects, carers and nurses to look after our ageing population, teachers to educate our young people, and right now we are short of warehouse workers, drivers and chefs to meet demand over Christmas."

Latest Government figures show the North-East continues to have the UK's highest jobless rate, with a figure of 6.1 per cent.

According to the stats, employment in the North-East stood at 1.2 million between July and September, which was 51,000 higher over the year.