Four-fifths of employers to hire permanent staff, says REC

Jo Faragher

Employer intention to hire permanent staff is still at a record high, with 81% of employers planning to create more permanent jobs in the next quarter, according the REC’s latest JobsOutlook survey.

Temporary staff prospects are also looking up, as more than half (51%) of employers plan to hire more agency staff over the next three months. The intention to hire agency workers was strongest among micro-businesses, where demand for new staff has surged from 25% in April to one third of businesses in May.

The proportion of employers claiming they need to recruit to meet increased demand has also increased, from a quarter at the start of this year to just over a third (34%).

Recruitment and staffing budgets remain stable, according to the REC. Sixty-one percent of employers said they had not reduced the cost of their workforce at all in the last 12 months.

Despite the increased confidence and positive hiring intentions, skills shortages continue to blight employers’ recruiting plans. Technical and engineering employers were most likely to anticipate skills shortages in the last quarter.

However, 90% of employers overall are satisfied with the quality of candidates being put forward by recruitment agencies.

The perceived benefits of using agency workers are also shifting, according to the REC. While covering leave and accommodating peaks in demand were the main reasons two years ago, these factors are now being overtaken by more strategic considerations, such as providing organisations with access to key skills, or helping them respond to growth.