Strong growth for both permanent and temporary placements

Permanent placements growth reaches an 8-month high as temporary billings also rise at a faster pace, while demand for both permanent and temporary candidates is at its highest since May.

That’s according to the latest Markit/REC Report on Jobs, drawing on original survey data provided by recruitment consultancies. 

It also revealed that the amount of people placed in permanent roles increased for the third month running in October. Moreover, the rate of expansion quickened to the steepest recorded in eight months. Temporary/contract staff placements also rose at a faster pace at the start of Q4, with the rate of growth accelerating to a five-month high.

The robust increase in staff appointments was supported by increased employee vacancies in the latest survey period. Furthermore, demand for both permanent and temporary staff was at the highest since May.

Permanent staff starting salaries rose further in October, with the rate of increase picking up to its strongest for five months. Growth in hourly pay rates for temporary/contract staff meanwhile quickened slightly from September’s 40-month low, but remained relatively modest overall.

However, the availability of permanent candidates continued to decline in October, and at a steeper rate than in September. Meanwhile, the availability of temporary/contract staff fell at the softest rate in four months.

The North saw the quickest increase in permanent placements at the start of the fourth quarter, followed by the Midlands. However, London and Scotland registered marginal declines.

As was the case with permanent placements, the North saw the strongest increase in short-term staff billings in October. The only region monitored by the survey to see a fall in temporary billings was Scotland.

Demand for private sector staff remained robust in October, with recruitment consultancies seeing sharp increases in vacancies for both permanent and temporary posts. In contrast, the number of available permanent and temporary roles in the public sector declined modestly in the latest survey period.    

Demand rose for all permanent staff categories during October, albeit to varying degrees. Engineering maintained its top spot in the table, followed by IT and Computing. Meanwhile, demand was weakest for permanent roles in Hotel and Catering. Blue collar topped the table for temporary/contract staff demand in October. All other categories also saw an upturn in demand over the month, though Executive/Professional saw the slowest rate of growth.

REC Chief Executive, Kevin Green, said: “Despite ongoing uncertainty, the UK jobs market is thriving again in most areas. Job vacancies are back to levels not seen since April, and for the third consecutive month recruiters have reported an increase in the amount of people finding permanent jobs.

“This is a great place to be but there are real threats coming over the hill. Candidate availability has been falling for three and a half years. There are more vacancies than there are people to fill them in many sectors, including engineering, construction and healthcare.”