Permanent job placements in Scotland have increased for the first time in five months - performing better than the rest of the UK, a report has claimed.

The RBS Report on Jobs, published on Friday, also showed permanent candidate availability continue to fall in a trend that has been ongoing since March 2012.

According to the findings, the Permanent Placements Index - a measure devised by RBS to track trends in the number of permanent jobs - rose from 46.3 in October to 50.8 in November.

The index has a neutral starting point of 50, with anything above showing an upward trend and anything below showing a downward shift.

The "marginal" increase was the first since June, following four straight months of decline.

RBS said "political uncertainty" has stopped the level of growth from being higher.

The growth of starting salaries in the country was also judged to have continued to improve, with an index of 53, however, the increase had slowed from previous months.

The availability in permanent staff also continued its decline, matching its index of 35.7 from October, while the drop in temporary staff availability fell at its fastest rate since June, falling to 36.9.

The number of permanent vacancies continued a nine year increase, rising to 52.8 on the index.

Sebastian Burnside, the chief economist at RBS, said: "Permanent placements rose for the first time since June in November, a positive sign for the Scottish labour market.

"However, the rate of increase was only marginal, with political uncertainty continuing to weigh heavily on firms' hiring decisions."

He added: "Subdued hiring trends were also seen for short-term workers, as temporary billings growth eased to the softest in five months.

"Nevertheless, Scotland outperformed the UK as a whole in November as permanent placements at the national level declined for the ninth consecutive month.

"Meanwhile, labour demand and supply imbalances led to further increases in pay, though overall pay pressures showed signs of softening in November."