New statistics show that recruitment for Scotland’s private sector grew at its highest rate for 16 years last month.
The data was released by The Bank of Scotland in its latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) . It found that the input prices index rose to 60.8 in February from 58.7 in January.
The growth has been fuelled in particular by the services industry. According to stv.tv, 21 per cent of firms in the sector increased staff numbers last month. The amount of work carried out by these firms also increased in February, which experts claim is due to increased confidence in the market.
Results from the report also found that Scottish firms have increased their prices at the highest rates since July 2011, due to higher demand. The index for average price charged by firms in the country was 53.7 last month, up from 51.9 in January.
Talking about the data, Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, told heraldscotland.com: “February’s PMI showed the private sector of the Scottish economy continuing to demonstrate strong growth.”
Mr McRae also claimed that due to sufficient growth momentum, Scottish businesses have “regained the peak level of output” which was seen before the recession hit.