Employer confidence returns - source Recruiter.co.uk

Just under half of companies in the UK plan to recruit permanent staff in the next 12 months, according to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s (REC’s) JobsOutlook research for October.

While 48% of companies expect their permanent staff headcount to remain the same over the next year, 42% say it will increase.

The figures also showed that with Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) in place, the number of employers hoping to retain the same number of agency workers as last month remains steady at 61%, down slightly from 63% in September, while 21%, an increase of 20% from the previous month, aim to increase the number of temps.

The REC’s director of research, Roger Tweedy, says: “Though the overall scores have only fluctuated slightly over the past month, taken on a three-month rolling basis, there are definite signs that confidence is returning.

“Employers are at last realising they will have to now manage their agency workers slightly differently because of AWR and until their effects are fully realised, employers will continue to err on the side of caution on how they shape their workforces in both the short term and the longer term.”