UK Recruiters Report Sharpest Rise In Labor Supply Since 2020

(RTTNews) - UK recruiters reported the steepest rise in permanent and temporary labor supply in more than four years in March, while job placements declined notably due to weaker economic confidence and tighter client budgets, a report compiled by S&P Global showed on Friday.

The availability of staff increased at the fastest pace since December 2020, the KPMG/REC Report on Jobs survey revealed. The increase in availability largely reflects redundancies and fewer job openings.

Meanwhile, vacancies continued to decline for the seventeenth consecutive month in March. Nonetheless, the pace of decline was the softest since last October.

There was another reduction in hiring activity in March. Economic uncertainty, tighter recruitment budgets and reduced client activity weighed on staff hiring.

Permanent placements declined in each month for the past two-and-a-half-years, with the pace of reduction broadly unchanged from February. Meanwhile, temp billings dropped at the softest pace in three months.

The starting salary inflation rose from February's four-year low but remained below the long-run average. By contrast, temp wage growth rose to a three-month high.

"At a time when global uncertainty is peaking and businesses are assessing the impact of market volatility alongside rising employment costs, the latest data demonstrates how the economic reality continues to weigh heavy on the labor market," KPMG Group Chief Executive and UK Senior Partner Jon Holt, said.

"Recent global events have put pressure on any growth prospects in the UK, so it is unlikely that we will see an improvement in the data in the near term," Holt added.