The number of permanent hires made in April fell at its fastest pace in two years, while the number of temporary workers placed into jobs rose at the quickest rate for seven months.
The latest UK report on jobs from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG showed that cautiousness over hiring continued last month, resulting in a preference for short-term staff over permanent employees.
April’s score on the report’s temp worker placements index was 53.3, while the permanent placements score was 44.2. A score above 50 indicates growth on the previous month.
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The south of England saw the steepest increase in temporary placements. The Midlands was the only area that bucked the trend and registered a reduction in temporary appointments.
Temps in nursing, medical and care were the most in-demand, followed by those in hotel and catering, and engineering. The only monitored sector to see a drop in short-term worker demand was retail.
Candidate availability improved for the second month in a row, which the report suggested could be linked to redundancies or more people seeking higher-paid roles as living costs continue to rise.
Starting salaries for permanent workers rose at a historically sharp pace in April as the rate of inflation remained high and employers sought to attract highly-skilled workers. Temporary hires’ wage growth improved to its highest level since January.
The vacancy growth score slipped to a three-month low (54.7), however, this score still represents an increase in job postings.
REC chief executive Neil Carberry said the data suggested employers were still feeling uncertain about hiring staff.
“The good news is they still need to hire, as growing vacancies show. But firms are hedging their bets,” he said.
“The picture varies for temporary recruitment too, with REC members reporting weaker demand in some sectors than others as sectors like logistics, driving and food are heavily affected by changing consumer behaviour.
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“For employers, hiring is unlikely to get easier soon. Those businesses that succeed will have good, long-term strategies for accessing talent from a wide range of sources, including retraining.”
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