A weak economic outlook and greater caution among employers dampened recruitment during November, according to the latest KPMG and Recruitment & Employment Confederation, UK Report on Jobs survey, compiled by S&P Global.
The report showed a sharper fall in permanent staff appointments combined with a fresh decline in temp billings, to signal a broad-based reduction in hiring activity, while vacancies fell slightly for the second time in the past three months.
Meanwhile, the numbers of job seekers rose at the quickest pace since December 2020, with recruiters widely linking this to redundancies and workers concerned over current job security.
At the same time, pay pressures receded again in November with rates of starting salary and temp pay inflation slipping to 32- and 33-month lows, respectively.
London recorded by far the steepest reduction in permanent placements of all four monitored English regions. The Midlands was the only area to see an increase, albeit one that was mild overall.
Claire Warnes, partner, Skills and Productivity at KPMG UK, said: “Employers are reining in hiring and continuing with redundancies in response to the sustained economic slowdown.”