February 2010 has seen the strongest growth in the jobs market since July 2007, according to the latest Report on Jobs published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG.
However the news was not quite so good for interim managers: temporary and contract staff billings also increased, but the latest rise was the slowest in three months.
Explaining the figures, Kevin Green, the REC's Chief Executive, said increasing employer confidence has resulted in the best performance seen in permanent employment for two and a half years.
High-end sectors such as IT are showing particularly strong growth and there were significant increases in demand for admin and back-office support.
Looking ahead, Green said there are indications that recruitment in the public sector could drop off fast and a new approach to public sector resourcing is now critical.
The REC and a number of other organisations have argued that interim managers and the outsourcing of functions such as payroll could help cut costs without hurting front-line services.
Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG said the latest figures confirm that the UK jobs market is on the road to recovery with sectors hit badly by the recession - such as IT, computing, engineering and construction - clearly on the rebound.
However, the impact of the inevitable public sector recession on the jobs market has yet to be felt and will be played out over the next six to 12 months, he added.