Market Indicators
Published: 20 August 2008
July sees lowest growth in temp billings for five years
The recruitment industry had another difficult month in July, with the number of permanent placements falling again and the slowest growth in temporary billings for five years.
Temporary billings rose at the slowest rate since growth began in June 2003, at 50.7 points in July compared to 54.3 in June, with 50 points indicating no change, according to July's Report on Jobs from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and accountancy firm KPMG.
Diane Bradbury, managing director of Spring Personnel, told Recruiter: "We are absolutely flat at the moment in terms of temporary billings — we haven't seen any growth for two months."
Permanent placements dropped to 44 points, the fourth fall in consecutive months, according to the report, which is based on a poll of recruiters.
Bradbury said it was taking longer to fill permanent vacancies: "In terms of permanent vacancies, we haven't seen a decline week on week. However, clients are giving us vacancies and saying, 'We aren't desperate, but can you have a look around'."
Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, said: "The report's latest figures show a continued decline in permanent placements, which has now spread to the traditionally robust temporary jobs market. This is a clear indication that the credit crunch has started to reach the jobs market."
Demand for personnel dropped in six of the eight sectors monitored by the study. The hotel and catering sector experienced the worst decline at 41.5 points, with accounting and finance the second worst at 43.8.
The only two sectors which experienced a growth in the number of permanent placements were nursing, medical and care workers with 55.7 points, and executive and professional with 50.3 points.
Both industries are experiencing less growth than the same time last year, however, with an 8.4 point drop in medical placements and a 14.1 point drop in executive and professional.
The top sectors in temporary recruitment were nursing, medical and care, hotel and catering, accounting and financial, and executive and professional. A declining jobs market has driven up the number of candidates which are available.
Permanent candidate availability has grown for the past four months, hitting its highest level in July at 59.9 points. The number of temporary candidates has followed a similar trend, reaching its highest growth in the last four months, at 58.8 points.
Meanwhile, Adecco and Mandis' Job Creation Index (JCI), which tracks job creation across a number of key industries, mirrors the growth in the health and social care sector, with the second highest job creation and a JCI score of 1,083. The JCI report highlights the number of jobs being created in the public sector and defence industry, with the highest JCI score of 1,117.
Steven Kirkpatrick, managing director of Adecco Retail, UK and Ireland, told Recruiter: "The public sector business will continue to grow because budgets have already been assigned to contracts, resulting in a spike in job creation.
"From a downturn perspective, consumer goods and manufacturing are starting to feel the impact from the reduction in demand for goods, which affects the staff levels needed in these sectors.
"The next few months will be a telling time to see the impact resulting from the economic situation."
christopher.goodfellow@centaur.co.ukMarket indicators
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