UK permanent hiring rises at fastest pace in four years: KPMG, REC
- UK permanent placements rose at the fastest pace in four years in September.
- Demand for workers fell at its weakest rate in just over two years.
- Permanent salary growth slowed for the first time in four months.
- The survey covers around 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — UK employers are hiring permanent staff again, with placements rising in September at the fastest pace in four years, though KPMG calls the recovery fragile. Pay growth cooled at the same time as the number of people looking for work kept climbing.
Hiring flickers back to life
Permanent placements rose for a second month in a row, and while the increase was marginal, it was the strongest in four years, according to the KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs. Temporary billings also rose, though at the slowest pace in five months.
“For the second month in a row we are seeing the jobs market starting to flicker back to life, with businesses increasing their hiring across both permanent and temporary roles,” said Jon Holt, group chief executive and UK senior partner at KPMG.
He added that vacancies grew in the private sector for the first time in over two years.
Pay cools as candidates multiply
Permanent salary growth slowed for the first time in four months and stayed below its historical average, while temporary pay rose at a four-month low. Candidate availability kept rising sharply amid redundancies and fewer job opportunities, though growth was the slowest in three years.
Overall demand for workers fell again, but at the weakest rate in just over two years. IT and computing and engineering led demand for permanent staff, while retail and hotel and catering saw the sharpest falls in vacancies.
“The permanent jobs market is revving its engine, with a second successive month of growth,” said Maxine Bligh, interim chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). Holt cautioned that energy prices and higher borrowing costs remain headwinds, calling it “a fragile recovery.”
When candidate supply outpaces demand, employers have room to rethink how they fill roles, and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and staffing agency partners can scale hiring up or down as confidence returns.
When pay pressures ease, buyers comparing the top BPO companies worldwide can lock in capacity before the market tightens again.
The KPMG and REC survey shows UK hiring recovering slowly from a long slump. For enterprise buyers, the window to build capacity at stable pay rates may not last.
BPO and staffing operators that can flex headcount quickly are positioned to win as demand returns.
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