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The Bank of Scotland says that the Scottish economy is strong heading into 2015 Reuters

The Scottish job market is improving with permanent placements rising sharply in December, and the number of people looking for work down, according to a survey by Bank of Scotland.

The latest Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs, found that starting salaries had risen to near record levels, describing Scotland's job market as being in "relatively rude health".

Bank of Scotland's chief economist Donald MacRae said the Scottish job market ended the year strongly after slowing in November. The upward trend is expected to continue into 2015.

The report's labour market barometer reached 63.2 in December, up from 60.1 in November. A score above 50 indicates growth, while below 50 means a contraction.

MacRae said: "The number of people appointed to jobs rose with particularly strong growth in appointments to permanent jobs. The number of vacancies rose at a faster pace while staring salaries rose at near-record levels.

"These results provide further evidence that the economic recovery continued at the end of last year and looks set to carry on into 2015."

The survey found that the IT and computing sector was the area which featured the most permanent job openings.

The strongest increase in new jobs was in Aberdeen, while Edinburgh was the top Scottish city for part-time and temporary work.

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