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Job vacancies in record fall

Demand for staff has slumped at the fastest pace for over a decade in the wake of the recession, recruiters have revealed.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said there had been a continued weakness in the labour market in recent weeks, with job vacancies falling at record levels.

Increasing numbers of workers being made redundant was coinciding with fewer new job opportunities becoming available.

There were sharp increases in the number of people looking for permanent and temporary work, a study found. The report also noted a shift in bargaining power towards employers, with average salaries for successful candidates placed in permanent jobs falling for a fourth successive month in January.

Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, said: “These figures continue to cause real concern and confirm that the labour market is continuing to contract, although the decline in permanent placements is less marked than in the previous month.

“The Government needs to breathe life into the jobs market, for example by harnessing the contribution of temporary work as a valuable mechanism for keeping people in employment.

“This means extending the employer incentives announced at last month’s jobs summit to take on and train temporary staff. It is also important that any steps to boost the jobs market are not undermined by potentially damaging legislation.”

Mike Stevens, of KPMG, which helped with the research, added: “Yet another month of desperate news on the UK employment front although there is a perceptible slowing in the rate of decline in permanent placements.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .