However, the findings, released this morning, also reveal temp billings increased strongly, with the rate of growth picking up from June’s recent dip.

Agencies report candidate shortages had a negative impact on permanent staff appointments, as the supply of both permanent and temporary candidates fell sharply in July, despite rates of decline easing to the weakest in three months in both cases. Meanwhile, the demand for staff strengthened further in July, with overall job vacancies expanding at the quickest rate for eight months.

Across the country, permanent placements rose at faster rates in the Midlands and the South of England but softened in the North of England. Meanwhile, permanent staff appointments dipped slightly in London.

While the growth of temp billings was broad-based across the four monitored English regions during July, the sharpest rate of increase was seen in the North of England.

IT & computing was the most in-demand category for permanent staff in the month but steep increases in vacancies were also registered in the remaining nine job categories even in retail where the slowest rise in demand was reported.

Temporary staff vacancies rose across all of the 10 monitored job categories in July, with the sharpest increases seen across blue collar and nursing/medical/care with the slowest increase signalled for executive/professional.

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