Current data shows how uncertain many employers are feeling right now. The good news is they still need to hire, as growing vacancies show, with growth of demand for permanent workers across the South of England remaining strong in April. So there are opportunities out there for jobseekers. Wages are rising sharply for new permanent hires in the South in the face of inflation, even though candidate availability is finally starting to improve. Those businesses that succeed will have good, long term strategies for accessing talent from a wide range of sources, including retraining. Recruiters are well-placed to help with this.
Renewed decline in permanent recruitment
There is a fresh decline in the number of permanent placements across the South of England in April. Placements have now fallen in seven of the past eight months, with the latest reduction the quickest since January and solid. This could be due to relatively subdued demand for permanent staff, recruitment freezes and a lack of suitably-skilled candidates.
Softer upturn in permanent candidate numbers
The availability of permanent staff across the South of England seems to have increased recently and most likely linked to higher permanent labour supply to redundancies and people seeking higher paid roles.
steepest increase in starting salaries for five months
Pay awarded to newly-placed permanent workers in the South of England is still on the rise stretching the current run of salary inflation to 26 months. Higher starting salaries is linked to the higher cost of living and competition for scarce staff.
