Industry & Company News

Recruitment activity continued to decline in May, with the latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs survey showing further marked falls in both permanent placements and temp billings following record drops in April. Survey respondents frequently mentioned that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent company closures had led clients to cancel or delay hiring plans. At the same time, reports of redundancies and furloughed staff led to the quickest increase in candidate availability since July 2009. However, a further marked drop in demand for staff, which was highlighted by a substantial drop in overall vacancies, led to steep falls in starting pay. The report is compiled by IHS Markit from responses to questionnaires sent to a panel of around 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies.

Business confidence in the UK economy improved by 17 percentage points between early May and June. While confidence remains very low (at net: -46), the latest survey from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) saw the outlook start to turn away from the record lows of the spring. Alongside this, employers’ hiring intentions also improved. The latest JobsOutlook, conducted between 2-16 June, found that more employers are planning to expand their workforce than reduce it in the next three months, as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) continues to support firms to avoid redundancies. The net balance now sits at +6, an improvement of 11 percentage points from early May. Employers’ hiring intentions for the medium term (the next 4-12 months) also improved, rising from net: +6 in early May to net: +15 in June.