UK employers are increasingly turning to temporary workers to fill vacancies rather than making permanent hires, concludes the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) in a new report.

It finds that the number of temporary job placements in July was 7% higher than in the same month in 2011, while for permanent positions this figure was down 5%.

When looking at professional-level vacancies, both permanent (30%) and temporary (19%) roles saw a decline year-on-year.

However, there were some signs of recovery in permanent IT and finance roles, while engineering was the strongest sector of all for permanent roles, with an 11% year-on-year rise.

Ann Swain, chief executive at APSCo, says: “This switch from permanent to temporary recruitment demonstrates how the UK’s professional recruitment market can respond flexibly to changes in the broader UK economy.”