Most UK employers (89%) are planning to increase or maintain their temporary workforce in the next three months, a rise of 9% compared to data from March 2017, according to a survey from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. For the next 4-12 months, the figure was also the same at 89% of UK employers, an increase of 3% from March.

The rise suggests that businesses may become increasingly reliant on temporary workers. REC also suggests that the increasing demand for temporary workers appears to be in response to falling availability of candidates to fill permanent vacancies.

REC’s monthly JobsOutlook survey also shows that 33% of employers report having no spare workforce capacity within their organisation while 46% anticipate a shortage of candidates to fill permanent roles in the next year, with construction, engineering & technical, and health & social care highlighted as particular areas of concern. Of those that use temporary workers, 65% do so to manage peaks in demand, 57% need them to respond to growth, and 48% say they want to gain access to key strategic skills.

“This looks like a tipping point for the jobs market. Faced with chronic skills shortages, some employers are giving up on trying to fill permanent vacancies, and instead looking for temp resource to ensure they have the manpower needed to meet demand,” REC Chief Executive Kevin Green said.

“For jobseekers this means there are opportunities out there to boost earnings, because employers are prepared to pay a premium for people to fill vacancies on an interim basis. We could see this become a more attractive option for people in the context of rising inflation and poor pay growth,” Green said.

The data also showed that the increased use of temporary workers may have a financial burden for some businesses, with 19% claiming that agency workers earn more than permanent staff in equivalent roles.

“For employers there is a growing sense of urgency about the skills shortage because it threatens to throw the UK jobs market off track,” Green said. “Whichever party forms a government after 8 June (General Election date), we need to see action to improve the employability and skills of our young people, and to improve inclusion within underrepresented groups. We also need an immigration system which reflects the reality that more not fewer people from abroad are needed to boost the capacity of the UK workforce.”