The number of permanent and temporary placements in the UK jobs market fell last month for the first time in six months, a new study says.
According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs, the decline was at the fastest rate for almost three years.
Temporary and contract staff appointments were down for the seventh month running, with the rate of decline accelerating to the fastest since July 2009. Meanwhile, recruitment consultancies indicated higher levels of both permanent and temporary staff availability during June, with the latter recording the stronger growth
Bernard Brown, partner and head of business services at KPMG, said:?“After five months of consecutive growth, the latest recruitment data comes as a sobering reminder that we’re far away from a confident economic situation. Indeed, with both permanent and temporary appointments declining at the sharpest rate in nearly three years and overall demand for staff showing the weakest growth since the start of 2012, the outlook would appear bleak.
“Of course, we must remember that these figures have come on the back of months of uncertainty in the Eurozone, the Greek elections and a worsening debt position in southern Europe. This has dented confidence and created nervousness around investment, which in turn has impacted job creation. That said, there are some bright spots to be seen – most notably in the south, which bucked the trend with a solid growth in permanent placements.
“However, a real worry for me is the acceleration in the pace of decline, which suggests this isn’t a mere blip. If this trend were to continue, there’s a very real chance we could hit a 3m unemployed figure in the UK in the not too distant future.”
