Recruitment continues at strong rate, finds KPMG/REC report
8 October 2013
The volume of permanent and temporary staff recruitment through agencies continued strong in September – albeit not quite at the same record hiring levels as last month – according to the latest REC/KPMG Report on Jobs.
Tue, 8 Oct 2013The volume of permanent and temporary staff recruitment through agencies continued strong in September – albeit not quite at the same record hiring levels as last month – according to the latest REC/KPMG Report on Jobs.
The survey of 400 UK recruitment consultancies from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and the professional services firm KPMG found a further rise in permanent staff placements last month, with the pace of expansion just below the 40-month high seen in July.
Temp billings similarly increased at a sharp rate, although slightly below the 15-year high seen in August.
As was the case last month, all nine industry sectors* in the report showed a rise in demand for both permanent and contract workers, with the construction industry’s permanent needs surging, overtaking engineering as the top sector on the perm side, although it remained the top industry for temp demand.
Pay inflation was strong for both permanent and temporary staff.
REC chief executive officer Kevin Green says: “This is good news but behind this success story we can see that the division in the jobs market is getting worse with vacancies going up as the number of skilled workers to fill them goes down.
“There is a real two-speed labour market in place. We have a buoyant, candidate-driven market for skilled and professional roles, versus an oversupply of candidates for jobs that don’t rely on a specific skill set.”
*Industry sectors: Accounting/financial, blue collar, construction, engineering, executive/professional, hotel & catering, IT & computing, nursing/medical/care, secretarial/clerical
The survey of 400 UK recruitment consultancies from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and the professional services firm KPMG found a further rise in permanent staff placements last month, with the pace of expansion just below the 40-month high seen in July.
Temp billings similarly increased at a sharp rate, although slightly below the 15-year high seen in August.
As was the case last month, all nine industry sectors* in the report showed a rise in demand for both permanent and contract workers, with the construction industry’s permanent needs surging, overtaking engineering as the top sector on the perm side, although it remained the top industry for temp demand.
Pay inflation was strong for both permanent and temporary staff.
REC chief executive officer Kevin Green says: “This is good news but behind this success story we can see that the division in the jobs market is getting worse with vacancies going up as the number of skilled workers to fill them goes down.
“There is a real two-speed labour market in place. We have a buoyant, candidate-driven market for skilled and professional roles, versus an oversupply of candidates for jobs that don’t rely on a specific skill set.”
*Industry sectors: Accounting/financial, blue collar, construction, engineering, executive/professional, hotel & catering, IT & computing, nursing/medical/care, secretarial/clerical
