New recruitment agency start-ups fell in 2011

2011 saw a total of 1,465 employment agencies launch, while 615 temporary agencies opened their doors for business – both figures down on last year.
Tue, 18 Dec 2012
2011 saw a total of 1,465 employment agencies launch, while 615 temporary employment agencies opened their doors for business – both figures down on last year.

This is according to the Office for National Statistics’ Business Demography report, which shows the number of employment agencies starting up in 2011 fell from the 1,730 started in 2010. The same year also saw 670 temporary agencies set up.

The report differentiates between 'employment agencies', which largely refers to permanent recruiters, with 'temporary employment agencies' for its own purposes - companies would not be included in both even if they recruit for both permanent and contract roles.

In 2008, 2,010 temporary agencies set up, while the employment agencies figure for the same year was 1,095.

The full data, which also includes figures for the number of employment agencies disappearing – down from 1,045 in 2009 to 975 in 2010 and 895 last year, is available from the Office for National Statistics' website. Temp agencies folding in 2011 numbered 1,465. That figure is a major improvement over 2009's 2,640, and is now closer to 2008's 1,425.

Richard Prime, joint chief executive of recruitment industry development platform Sonovate, which extracted the figures from the ONS data, comments: “The overall message is a positive one; UK business is getting back on its feet and more entrepreneurs than ever are looking to establish companies.

“As to why the number of new employment placement agencies has decreased, we would suggest that there are difficulties faced by entrepreneurial recruiters that do not affect other business owners. Contract finance is a long and arduous process, for example, and this may be putting some people off.”

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