Employment opportunities were created in the UK last month, but the pace of growth was "subdued".

This is according to the latest Report on Jobs for the country, which revealed "modest rises" in both permanent and temporary hiring during July 2011 compared with June.

Published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG, the measure showed that demand for new workers dipped to the slowest pace in eight months, with the highest levels of activity seen in the IT, engineering and construction industries.

In addition, the study indicated candidate availability accelerated over the period in question, while pay growth remained constrained.

Commenting on the latest labor market statistics, REC chief executive Kevin Green noted: "We have now had two years of continuous growth and employers are still continuing to hire staff."

However, he pointed out that rates of expansion in the labor market are still not currently high enough to substantially push down joblessness figures.

Recent official data for the UK suggested that employment increased during the three months to May this year by 50,000 compared with the previous quarter.

Posted by Alex Donnell