Number of people placed in permanent jobs drops in November
06 December 2019
The findings of a report compiled by KPMG and The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) demonstrated that the number of people who were placed into permanent job roles dropped in the month of November.
This is the ninth consecutive month that the trend has been observed and experts are attributing it to current political uncertainty, namely Brexit, which has led to a number of businesses delaying or putting a complete halt to recruitment plans. Similarly, it was noted that the uncertainties surrounding Brexit made staff hesitant to seek out or pursue new opportunities so there was also a dip in candidate numbers. November displayed the slowest increase in vacancies since the levels began to increase back in October 2009 which means it showed the slowest upturn of vacancies in over a decade.
There was, however, a slight increase in temporary bookings but temporary wage inflation suffered a three-year low. Increases to permanent starting salaries also eased and rose at the slowest rate since December 2016.
The report data was collated from questionnaire responses taken from a panel of approximately 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies. It also reviewed the number of permanent placements according to different locations and across the public and private sectors. Permanent placements decreased in both the Midlands and the South of England but increased in the North and London. Whilst permanent placements dropped in the Midlands, the number of temporary billings increased at a rapid rate in that area.
In the private sector, the need for permanent staff increased slowly whilst the demand for temporary employees increased consistently. The requirement for permanent and temporary staff within the public sector, however, both decreased in November.
Information provided in this news article may be subject to change. Please make note of the date of publication to ensure that you are viewing up to date information.