According to the latest Markit/REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) Report on Jobs, permanent staff placements continued to rise in January, despite the rate of growth easing to its slowest since September 2016.

All English regions monitored by the survey noted increased permanent placements in January, while Scotland saw a further decline.

Meanwhile, demand for staff reached a 17-month high with stronger increases in demand signalled for both permanent and temporary roles. The Report on Jobs Vacancy Index posted 62.8 in January, up from 59.8 in December 2016.

“Employers are crying out for people to fill vacancies,” Kevin Green, REC Chief Executive said. “Recruiters say that fewer candidates are available in all regions, and this is dampening jobs growth.”

“If businesses can’t find the people they need they will outsource abroad, automate activity or shut up shop, resulting in fewer jobs available to UK nationals,” Green said.

“The NHS is already in turmoil because it doesn’t have enough staff and the government’s decision to prioritise immigration control over the economy in their EU negotiations means that finding candidates will become yet more difficult in the future,” Green said. "We agree that more can be done to encourage under-represented groups into work, including disabled people, single parents and older workers. But the idea that this will resolve the talent shortage is pie in the sky.” 

January survey data from REC and Markit also showed that growth in demand for staff remained considerably stronger in the private sector compared to the public sector.

The data also showed that agencies’ billings from the employment of temporary/contract staff increased for the 45th consecutive month in January. Temp billings increased across all monitored regions in January, with the quickest rates of expansion seen in the North and the Midlands.

Demand for temporary staff increased across almost all monitored sectors in January. The strongest growth was seen in Nursing/Medical/Care, followed by Blue Collar. Meanwhile, demand declined modestly for construction workers. Meanwhile, Nursing/Medical/Care was top in terms of demand for permanent staff in January, ahead of Engineering and IT & Computing. 

The availability of staff to fulfil temporary vacancies continued on a downward trend in January, however the rate of reduction was the slowest seen in three months. Permanent staff availability fell for the 45^th month in a row at the start of 2017. Notably, the rate of decline quickened slightly since December, and remained sharp overall.

Permanent salaries saw a sustained increase in salary as did temporary/contract staff pay.