UK employers want more staff, but fear shortages as Brexit nears - REC survey

New data from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) shows that employers’ confidence in the UK economy remains low, with confidence levels now at net: -26 – a fall of 1 percentage point from the previous rolling quarter.

The REC’s latest  report shows that despite low confidence levels in the economy, employers are still looking to hire. Forecast demand for permanent staff increased to net: +19 in the short-term and net: +21 in the medium-term in May-July 2019, compared to the net: +16 and net: +18 recorded in the previous quarter (February-April 2019).

However, almost half (46 per cent) of employers of permanent staff expressed concern about finding enough suitable candidates for hire, with Health & Social Care skills being the area they were most concerned about being able to access. This should sound alarm bells as 45 per cent of public sector employers reported having no spare workforce capacity at all.

Tom Hadley, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the REC, said:

“Our flexible labour market continues to be one of the strongest elements of the UK economy. This most recent survey shows employers are still looking to take on both permanent and temporary workers as they seek to maintain stability amidst the Brexit uncertainty. More employers also seem to be trying to transfer their best temps into permanent roles as candidate shortages continue to bite across many sectors.”