The Report on Jobs, published today by Deloitte and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, shows the demand for staff in January has had the slowest rate of growth in 11 months.
Demand for staff continues to grow, but it is no longer at the robust rate seen over the past year, the report said. The problem of candidate availability seen in the past year has, as a result, lessened because of the reduced demand for staff.
Brett Walsh, consulting partner at Deloitte, said companies should not take this latest deceleration as a sign to stop recruiting.
“The job market remains relatively tight especially for those recruiting executive and construction staff,” he said.
The report shows that the construction and engineering sectors continued to post robust growth of staffing levels in January.
Another sector continuing to show confidence is the accounting and finance sector where it ranks higher for permanent placements than temporary offers. Strong growth of demand for permanent staff often reflects a confidence in the marketplace.
However, the manufacturing sector has been particularly hard-hit over the past two months. It was the only employment sector to post a decline in employment during January.
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