REC - UK recruitment industry status report - December 2021

Recruitment & Employment Confederation have launched their latest #IndustryStatusReport. This is their annual report, and gives the final word on what happened in 2020, now all businesses books have closed on the whole year. It also gives an insight into the recovery in the first half of this year. The headlines:

The recruitment industry contributed £35.9 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy in 2020 (11.5% decrease on 2019)

£32.7 billion of this (91%) was achieved through temporary/contract placement activity - a significant rise in the proportion that is temp.

£3.2 billion (9%) was achieved through permanent placements

There were 30,295 enterprises operating across the UK recruitment industry at the start of 2021 (2% decrease on the number at the start of 2020). 

There were 110,300 staff employed by the broader recruitment industry (8% decrease on previous year). 

450,400 permanent placements were made by the recruitment industry in 2020 - half the scale of 2019. 

On any given day in the year, there 980,100 temporary/contract workers on assignment. 

This is a story of a resilient industry which faced the biggest recession in 200 years and came through it, wounded but unbowed. Temp revenue carried the industry through last year, with hardly any drop from 2019. And we know that perm has roared back this year. Because #recruiters make a difference!

If you would like a full copy of the report please get in touch by email: tct@thewlisgraham.com.

Thanks