The spiralling growth in the demand for staff slowed down in
January according to research by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
A REC survey showed that although the demand for both permanent
and temporary staff remained strong in January the number of people placed in
permanent jobs by consultancies fell for the eighth successive month to the
lowest for a year-and-a-half.
Consultancies reported the slowest rate of growth of
billings from temporary staff employment since June and the survey also
revealed that permanent salaries increased at the slowest rate for almost a
year.
The survey showed that the number of unfilled vacancies at
UK job centres also increased to hit a 20-year record high, with only 2.8
persons registered unemployed for every unfilled vacancy.
By Ben Willmott
