Recruitment agencies in the UK are set to see more demand for short-term agency workers over the coming months and year after it was revealed by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) that businesses are staying guarded about taking on permanent members of staff. In the latest JobsOutlook survey it was shown that agency worker demand remained strong, with many executives not wanting to take on high risk and costly permanent employees because they were cautious of the economic climate.
In the latest JobsOutlook report it was shown that 31% of employers are intending on using short-term and agency workers in the coming quarter. Meanwhile, 29% of companies will take on more workers over the coming year. The percentages have both dropped by 1% from the previous month, with 16% of executives saying that they were likely to decrease the number of temporary workers that they are using in the next quarter. Similarly, 15% of those questioned expressed that the next year would see their use of agency workers fall.
The positive figures for agency worker demand, however, still outstrips those who are cutting back, meaning that recruitment agencies are set to continue seeing a lot of new temporary worker positions opening up. Whilst there is still permanent job creation taking place, those who want to capitalise on the current market conditions will need to ensure that they have temporary workers and contractors on their books.