Key points:
- Permanent placements fall at fastest rate since July 2009
- Growth in temp billings maintained, albeit at marginal pace
- Pay pressures remain muted
- Slower improvement in candidate availability
Summary:
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs – published today – provides the most comprehensive guide to the UK labour market, drawing on original survey data provided by recruitment consultancies.
Faster drop in permanent placements...
Permanent staff placements decreased for the second month running in November. Although moderate, the rate of decline quickened to the sharpest since July 2009. Contributing to the reduction in placements was an easing in the rate of growth of permanent job vacancies to a 25-month low.
...while temp billings growth slows
Agencies’ billings from the employment of temporary/contract staff rose for a twenty-eighth consecutive month in November. However, the rate of growth was only slight and weaker than in October.
Marginal increase in pay rates
Pay pressures remained subdued in November, with both permanent salaries and temporary/contract staff hourly rates increasing only marginally. In the case of the latter, the rate of inflation was at a 10-month low.
Weaker improvement in candidate availability
The availability of staff to fill job vacancies continued to rise in November, but at a slower pace. Growth of permanent candidate availability was only marginal and the weakest since May, while the rate of increase in temp availability was at a three-month low.
Comments:
Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, says: “This month’s Report on Jobs from the REC and KPMG highlights a rapidly declining jobs market. The market has been slowing since May but this slowdown has accelerated in the autumn. This is being driven by the double whammy of falling business and consumer confidence.
“This is bad news for those out of work and, as a consequence, we expect unemployment to rise in December and January. On a positive note, however, the report shows that temporary staff appointments are still growing, albeit at a decreasing rate.
“The Government has done as much as it can in the short term to remove restrictions to employment and stimulate demand. However, if confidence doesn’t return quickly to get the jobs market moving again, the Government may need to take more radical action in the New Year.”
Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG comments: “This month’s Report on Jobs makes grim reading. Given the uncertainties of the European market, the Government's recent stimulus package could not have come sooner, as unemployment creeps ever higher. Whilst most commentators suggest unemployment will peak lower than 3 million, this figure may be tested in the year ahead.
“Time will tell if recent interventions are enough to reverse the worrying trend of the last few months. If so, we should pick this up in our statistics over the next few months.
“Bright spots in an otherwise gloomy data set were that the agencies surveyed reported rising demand in permanent placements for engineering and construction staff ahead of this time last year, and demand also rose for IT and computing staff, together with the executive / professional and secretarial / clerical categories. But these isolated sectors do not compensate for an overall decline in permanent placements.
“According to the survey panel, economic uncertainty is resulting in a number of employers placing jobs on hold and taking longer to make recruitment decisions. Last week’s autumn statement contained a number of welcome measures aimed at helping businesses to grow and to ease red tape around employment but they are unlikely to make much difference in the short term.”
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KPMG
KPMG Press Office, Telephone 0207 694 8773
REC
Helen Ablett, Telephone 08453 700655
Markit Economics (technical/data queries):
Jack Kennedy, Telephone 01491 461087
Note to Editors:
The Report on Jobs is a monthly publication produced by Markit on behalf of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and KPMG. The report features original survey data which provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive monthly picture of recruitment, employment and employee earnings trends available.
The Report features original research data from Markit, collected via questionnaire from a panel of 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies. In 2000, some 1,326,000 people were employed in either temporary or contract work through consultancies and over 450,000 people were placed in permanent positions through consultancies. Data for the monthly survey were first collected in October 1997 and are collected at the end of each month, with respondents asked to specify the direction of change in a number of survey variables.
All Index numbers are calculated from the percentages of respondents reporting an improvement, no change or decline. These indices vary between 0 and 100 with reading of exactly 50.0 signalling no change on the previous month. Readings above 50 signal an increase or improvement; readings below 50 signal a decline or deterioration. Reasons given by survey respondents for any changes are analysed to provide insight into the causes of movements in the indices and are also used to adjust for expected seasonal variations.
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Recruitment and Employment Confederation
15 Welbeck Street, London, W1G 9XT. Tel: 020 7009 2100. Fax: 0207 935 4112 Website: www.rec.uk.com
The REC is the representative association for the UK’s £22.5 billion private recruitment and staffing industry with more than 8,000 recruitment agencies and 6,000 recruitment consultants in membership. There are more than 1 million temporary workers registered with UK agencies who are deployed in industry, commerce and the public services every day.
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