The latest survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG revealed that permanent staff appointments grew to 57.4 in January, up from 54.9 the month before and 56.3 in August 2010. Anything above 50 represents growth.

The all-industry index has now been rising for 18 months and the number of permanent vacancies hit a six-month high in January.

The most sought-after jobs were in engineering and construction,IT, executive roles and accounting.

But growth is expected to falter following wide-scale public sector job cuts and wages continue to remain depressed.

Bernard Brown, partner at KPMG, said it was “too early to speculate whether these are the signs of a private sector-led recovery”.

He said: “With looming public sector job cuts, the VAT rise and slowing economic growth, the UK job market is likely to remain volatile over the coming months.”

The REC urged the Government to provide extra support for the one-in-five young people out of work.

Kevin Green, chief executive, said: “The Government will still need to either incentivise SMEs to take on young people, or to provide more career and job-search support to those looking for work.”