The number of job appointments increased in September for the second month in a row, but the uk jobs market is still "very fragile", a report says.
Permanent and temporary jobs increased although growth remained "subdued", research by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation showed.
"The report brings more encouraging news for the UK job market," KPMG said.
Unemployment is at 2.47 million, the highest since 1995, with economists expecting it to continue to rise.
The employers' group, the CBI, believes unemployment will peak at about three million in the second quarter, while the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, expects the number to hit 3.2 million in 2010.

Employers have retained more staff during this recession than previously
Kevin Green, Recruitment and Employment Confederation
However, the REC/KPMG report said the rate of job losses "appear to have peaked".
It said that data from the Office for National Statistics suggested job losses "may well be moderating in the second half of the year".
Rise in appointments
The index for permanent staff placements in September was 58, with any reading above 50 indicating an increase in appointments compared with the previous month.
The index for temporary staff placements came in at 55.1.
The report, which surveyed 400 companies, also showed that the number of job vacancies fell in September at the slowest rate for 16 months, suggesting that demand for staff was stabilising.
Kevin Green, REC's chief executive, said the study was good news but was still cautious about the road ahead.
"Employers have retained more staff during this recession than previously," he said.
"This labour hoarding means companies will be able to respond to increases in demand without hiring new employees.
"This could be bad news for the nearly one million young people under 24 currently without work."
'Stabilisation' spreads
Recruitment consultancy Michael Page International said on Wednesday that it was seeing signs of "stabilisation" in some of the countries in which it operates.
Despite this, the company, which specialises in professional staff, said third-quarter gross profits had fallen 41.8% from a year ago to £82.2m.
In the UK, the company said that the "stabilisation that started to become evident in the banking sector is now spreading to other sectors".
source: BBC News