| Research from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation has found Agencies picking up most of the strain due to the current uncertainty within the jobs market.
The Key Recruitment Trends 2007 report identified the fact that agencies were essentially “shock absorbers” when it came to providing the labour market with flexibility during the current economic period.
Overall, results for 2007 showed another strong year for the recruitment industry. However, towards the end of the review period, changes in some of the data suggested a possible slowdown after a sustained period of economic growth.
Roger Tweedy, the REC’s Head of Research, commented on the findings: “The results so far show that the agencies are acting as ‘shock absorbers’ in providing the labour market with flexibility that both cushions immediate impact and enables prompt recovery. This will be examined and assessed over the coming months.”
Some of the key findings from the report are:
• Employers continuing to use the same average number of agencies (2.5) as in 2006.
• 2007 saw employers across most sectors increase the use of temporary agency workers as a proportion of their overall workforce.
• Employers in most sectors were significantly more satisfied with their primary agency in 2007, compared to the previous year.
• The number of workers registered with agencies increased over the period.
• Agency workers generally found it easier to find work except in London.
• The average length of individual assignments reduced over the period.
• The proportion of agency workers looking for permanent roles continued to decline throughout 2007 to less than 50 per cent by the end of the year.
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment a specialist recruiter for the creative, technical and marketing industries, based in Manchester, UK. |
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