Report on Jobs shows permanent hiring fell in October for the first time in four months
The KPMG and REC survey of around 400 recruitment agencies found temp billings also fell, for the first time since March, while demand for staff dropped at the slowest pace in more than two years.
By Daily Oracles News Team2 min read
Employers cut back on permanent hiring in October, the month before the Budget, according to the KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs published on Monday. Permanent placements fell for the first time in four months, and at the second-fastest rate so far this year after May.
Temporary billings also fell, the first drop since March after six months of increases. The survey, compiled by S&P Global from a panel of around 400 recruitment and employment consultancies, linked the slowdown to economic uncertainty and rising costs. KPMG said firms had held back in the run-up to the Budget and warned that higher interest rates and inflation could stall the recent recovery in hiring. The Bank of England raised Bank Rate to 4% on Thursday.
The demand side held up better. Overall vacancies fell slightly, the weakest decline in more than two years, with permanent vacancies falling at the slowest rate since August 2024 and temporary vacancies edging up.
Candidates were easier to find. Recruiters reported a sharp rise in the number of people available for work, put down to redundancies and fewer openings, with permanent candidate numbers growing faster than temporary ones. Even so, starting salaries for permanent staff and pay for temps rose a little faster than before, though both stayed below the survey's long-run averages.
Regions and sectors
The regional picture was mixed:
- the south of England had the steepest falls in both permanent placements and temp billings
- the Midlands also recorded solid declines
- the north of England saw a fractional rise in permanent placements and was the only area where temp billings grew
- London recorded marginal growth in permanent placements
By sector, demand for permanent staff rose in six of the ten categories the survey tracks, led by IT and computing and by engineering. Retail and hotel and catering saw the sharpest falls. For temporary roles, blue-collar work had the biggest increase in demand and retail the steepest drop.
The REC described the Budget as a missed opportunity for jobs and growth, and said the government should have used it to exclude recruitment agencies from its guaranteed-hours proposals.
Official vacancy figures have also been falling, dropping below 700,000 in the three months to September. The next official labour market figures are due from the Office for National Statistics at 7am on Tuesday 17 November.
