The number of temporary employees in the UK decreased by 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis to a total of 1.57 million in the three-month period from February to April 2018 when compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Temporary workers are self-identified when surveyed by the ONS, and they include those who are on fixed-period contracts, agency temp workers, casual workers, seasonal workers and others in temporary work.

Meanwhile, figures from ONS also showed that the unemployment rate was 4.2% for the same three-month period, down from 4.6% for a year earlier and the joint lowest since 1975. Overall for the period, there were 1.42 million unemployed people, 115,000 fewer than for a year earlier.

The employment rate in the UK was 75.6%, higher than for a year earlier (74.8%) and the highest since comparable records began in 1971. Overall, there were 32.39 million people in work, 440,000 more than for a year earlier.

Data from ONS also showed that average weekly earnings for employees in nominal terms (not adjusted for price inflation) increased by 2.8% excluding bonuses, and by 2.5% including bonuses, compared with a year earlier. When adjusted for price inflation, average weekly earnings increased by 0.4% excluding bonuses, and by 0.1% including bonuses, compared with a year earlier.

Turning to job vacancies, there were 818,000 job vacancies for the period from March to May 2018, 33,000 more than for a year earlier.

For the period from February to April 2018, 107,000 people were laid off in the three months before the Labour Force Survey interviews, 18,000 more than for a year earlier.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive, APSCo commented to Staffing Industry Analysts, "The fact that wage growth appears to have slowed – with average weekly earnings increasing by just 2.8% year-on-year excluding bonuses – is not necessarily representative of what our members are seeing on the ground. Average figures always come with a healthy dose of ambiguity. Remuneration is intrinsically liked to the supply and demand – and natural fluctuations in average salaries for individual roles will impact overall numbers."

Recruitment & Employment Confederation head of policy, Sophie Wingfield commented, “While it is encouraging to see a rise in employment figures, a lack of candidates remains a major challenge for recruiters - particularly in areas like nursing, engineering, manufacturing and IT. Staff shortages are becoming business critical in many of these key sectors”.

“With skills needs and candidate expectations continuing to evolve, employers need to do more to attract the right people. Government can help by ensuring the future UK workplace has the skills needed and put in place a balanced and evidence-based immigration system post-Brexit,” Wingfield said.