The UK recruitment industry is bigger than ever before, according to the ninth annual Recruitment Industry Trends 2015/16 report released by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. The value of the recruitment industry to the UK economy was £35.1 billion in 2015, up 9% from the previous year.

The research found there are 9,565 recruitment agencies with an annual turnover of more than £250,000 operating in the UK. The REC also predicts the industry will grow by between 2.9% and 6.9% next year. 

This is higher than Staffing Industry Analyst’s own 2017 forecast of 1% growth for the UK market published in our Global Staffing Market Forecasts in November.

“The recruitment industry is bigger than ever before and contributes more to the UK economy than advertising, arts and recreation, and the food and beverage industry,” said REC Chief Executive Kevin Green. “Our industry is the engine that drives the UK jobs market, enabling people to find the right job and businesses to find the talent they need to succeed.”

More than three quarters of value added to the UK economy by the recruitment industry, 76.1%, was derived from temporary employment activities.

Industrial/blue collar, accounting/financial, and secretarial/clerical ranked as the top three sectors in which recruiters made temporary placements in 2015/16. For permanent placements, the top three sectors are professional/managerial, technical/engineering, and secretarial/clerical.

The report also found that the majority of temporary and contract assignments last longer than 12 weeks. The average length of assignment is more than 12 weeks for 73% of contract workers and 61% for temporary agency workers. This suggests that the majority of temporary workers benefit from equal treatment with permanent employees under the Agency Workers Directive, according to the report.