This January professional recruitment firms saw a 1% dip in overall placement numbers for permanent roles, while contractor placements simultaneously increased by 2% year-on-year.
New survey data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) have revealed notable variations between the trade association’s core sector groups in terms of hiring activity. While permanent placements across both IT and engineering, for example, have increased (18% and 2%, respectively), permanent placements within financial services slipped by 6%.
Despite this dip, financial contract placements increased by almost a quarter (24%) during the same period as uncertainty around the City’s future post-Brexit deters decision makers from committing to permanent hires.
APSCo’s figures also reveal that median salaries across all professional sectors dipped by 1.4% year-on-year. There are notable fluctuations in terms of sector, with IT, for example, recording an uplift of 1.8%, while in banking average salaries were down 4.7% year-on-year.
Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo, commented:
“This data suggests that as the as next month’s deadline approaches for the UK to start its formal withdrawal from the EU, organisations are slightly more hesitant to commit to bringing on board permanent staff. Thankfully, the strength of the UK staffing market lies in its flexibility, and it seems that organisations are bridging gaps with contractors to keep the wheels in motion.
“The fact that financial services firms are scrambling for contractors – while cutting back on permanent hiring – is unsurprising given the uncertain future of the City post-Brexit. While few companies in this area have publicly commented on their future workforce plans, of the 222 firms studied by EY for its financial services Brexit tracker, 15% said they expect to move some staff and 10% are actively committed to the UK. The presumption is the remaining companies are turning to contingent workforces until they have the information they need to make logical and reasoned decisions on where their futures lie geographically.”