British companies had more vacant posts to fill in the three months to March than in the previous quarter, government figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this morning that vacancies and average pay before bonuses were both up, while the unemployment rate remained flat.
This follows a survey earlier this month that showed an increase in the number of above-inflation pay rises.
Jobseekers will welcome the news as it suggests employers are struggling to recruit the people they want, which is in turn pushing up salaries.
The Bank of England though is likely to be concerned, as higher pay settlements pose an inflationary risk to the economy.
Overall, unemployment remained steady, but the number of people in work and the number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance were down.
"The employment rate for people of working age was 74.3 per cent for the three months ending in March 2007, down 0.2 from the previous quarter and down 0.3 on the year," the ONS said.
Inflation fell last month to 2.8 per cent from 3.1 per cent in March.
That fall is unlikely to be sufficient to dissuade the Bank of England from pushing interest rates up again in the coming months.
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