According to the new publication Report on Jobs released by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG the UK labour market grew at its weakest rate for a year last month.
More specifically, there has been a further easing in the growth of staff appointments with the number of permanent staff placements and temporary/contract staff increasing at slower rate during September.
Commenting upon the findings contained within the report Kevin Green, the REC’s Chief Executive, said
September’s Report on Jobs shows that the jobs market is starting to flatline and may herald a ‘double dip’ in employment. Whilst there is marginal growth, these figures are the worst we have seen for a year. The government must do everything possible to avert the threat of increasing unemployment.
Immediate priorities for government must focus on encouraging private sector employers with incentives to take on staff and radically improve the support being offered to specific groups of jobseekers, such as those under 25. Tapping into the existing expertise of the private sector recruitment industry is a cost effective way in which the government could start to make real headway in this area”
Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG, said:
“September has seen a further slowdown of the UK jobs market with permanent job appointments rising at the weakest rate for a year. As in previous months engineering, construction and executive staff have been most in demand, an indication of the continuing recovery in the private and manufacturing sector. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the public sector where many organisations have started redundancy programmes or have at least imposed hiring freezes. For example, the sharp decline in the demand for healthcare professionals comes as a direct result of government cutbacks and efforts to reform the NHS and may be only a sign of things to come”
