BUSINESS NEWS - UK – Permanent and contract job vacancies and placements soar in April
Posted 14th May 2021 • Written by staffingindustry.com • • • • •
The UK professional recruitment sector reported spikes in year-on-year vacancy and placements as the country emerges from the national lockdown, according to the latest Recruitment Trends Snapshot report from The Association of Professional Staffing Companies and cube19.
The report found a 90% year-on-year uptick in permanent vacancies while contract vacancies were up 83% in April 2021.
At the same time, permanent placements were up 82% year-on-year; contract placements were up 68%.
“While arguably these spikes were to be expected given the drops in the levels of business this time last year, it does show that employers are continuing to see the importance of the professional recruitment sector as partners in their plans to upskill for the recovery,” APSCo stated. “This is also borne out by the rise in sales revenue from placements for the recruitment sector which was up 97% year on year for permanent roles and 64% for contract.”
Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo said, “This data points very clearly to the ongoing value of the recruitment sector to the economy as organisations look for help to find the right skill sets. While the last year has been very tough on business and there has undoubtedly been redundancies, the annual increases in vacancies show that while there may be more candidates on the market, professional sectors still have niche skill shortages, and our profession will continue to be a sought after expert partner to help source those skills.”
“While the April data showed a slight month-on-month dip, APSCo and cube19 say that this is to be expected after the initial flurry of activity in March which is usual as we approach both the end of the tax year and many organisations’ year ends as headcount budgets expire,” Swain added.
Joe McGuire, Chief Revenue Office at cube19, said, “The year-on-year trends pre-pandemic show that the numbers in April tend to be slightly down on March. That said, April continued to show positive signs in the recovery and with further easing of restrictions in May paired with strong growth projections for the rest of the year, we hope to see this continue.”
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