Overall placement numbers for permanent roles in the UK fell by 1% in January when compared to the same period last year, according to a report, ‘State of the Nation’, from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). The data also showed that contract placements increased by 2% during the same time.

APSCo’s data, which focuses on professional recruitment, reveals variations between the trade association’s core sector groups in terms of hiring activity. While permanent placements across both IT and engineering, for example, have increased (18% and 2% respectively), permanent placements within financial services slipped by 6%.

Meanwhile, recruitment of professional contactors increased by 2% across the board year-on-year, with much of this activity attributed to a surge in the number of roles within financial services.

Despite the fact that permanent placements dipped by 6% year-on-year in this sector, contract placements increased by 24% during the same period as uncertainty around London’s future post-Brexit deters decision makers from committing to permanent hires. Engineering was the only other sector which saw modest growth in temporary hiring, with contract placements increasing by 3%. This is likely to be attributed to the number of large-scale infrastructure projects currently underway across the UK, coupled with acute skills shortages in the sector as reported by industry body, Engineering UK.

APSCo’s figures also reveal that median salaries across all professional sectors dipped by 1.4% year-on-year. This figure is characterised by notable fluctuations in terms of sector, with IT, for example, recording an uplift of 1.8% while, in banking, average salaries were down 4.7% year-on-year.

“This data suggests that as the as next month’s deadline approaches for the UK to start its formal withdrawal from the EU, organisations are slightly more hesitant to commit to bringing on board permanent staff,” Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo, said. “Thankfully, the strength of the UK staffing market lies in its flexibility, and it seems that organisations are bridging gaps with contractors to keep the wheels in motion.”

“The fact that financial services firms are scrambling for contractors – while cutting back on permanent hiring, is unsurprising given the uncertain future of the City post-Brexit,” The presumption is the remaining companies are turning to contingent workforces until they have the information they need to make logical and reasoned decisions on where their futures lie geographically.”