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Job appointments fall, but demand is still there

Growth of permanent and temporary job appointments slowed in November, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation say.

Research in conjunction with KPMG showed demand for staff continued to rise in December as overall job vacancies expanded.

The growth in demand for permanent staff was particularly strong in the engineering and construction sectors, and nursing and medical care remained the most in-demand category of temporary staff.

Permanent placement growth was strongest across the North, while London registered a sharp drop.

Recruitment and Employment Confederation chief executive Kevin Greensays: “We’ve now had three months of uninterrupted growth in people finding permanent jobs through recruitment agencies and five consecutive months of growth in temporary job placements.

“It’s another milestone for the UK labour market, which hasn’t seen a full quarter of simultaneous increases in both temp and permanent job placements since mid-2011. It’s also further confirmation of the continued strength of our flexible labour market in keeping people in employment.”

Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG,comments: “It’s concerning to see the pace of recruitment slowing. Job placements may still be moving in the right direction but questions must now be asked about whether the declining rate of growth is indicative of a longer-term problem.

“It seems that the time lag many economists spoke about towards the end of last year is shrinking, as employers delay decisions until they have more certainty about the economy. Individuals are also showing signs that they’d rather stick with what they know, as the numbers making themselves available for permanent roles has dropped for the first time since April 2012.

“However, with some areas of the country outperforming others and the private sector seeing more job placements in December the hope must be that employers will handle this latest setback. They certainly reacted positively to news that a fiscal cliff was avoided in the US and, if this is anything to go by, we should see the trend for rising employment continue. It may be slower than in the last few months of 2012, but growth should still be welcomed.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .