The underlying factors seem to point toward employees remaining in their current posts and not looking to move, even with the rise in salaries, this hasn’t seemed to attract people back onto the permanent jobs market. There are some regional variants with London and the Midlands not feeling this as badly as other areas of the UK.

Axiom has always been more active in the temporary recruitment sector, and it seems we are still benefitting in London, along with other recruitment consultancies, from higher temporary placements.

The recent Report on Jobs survey, carried out by S&P Global, on behalf of KPMG and REC, suggests that although vacancies are still at an all-time high, there are signs that the growth is slowing, and the feedback from recruiters’ is the uncertainty in the economy, candidate shortages and rising costs seems to be having an impact.

One of our specialist sectors is construction, which was hit throughout the pandemic with material shortages, and although this now seems to be easing, material prices remain high, with hikes of up to 25% seen across the sector, followed by a continued skills shortage, this is not new to construction, but pressure remains on salaries with wage increases across the board.

Employers will not be able to sustain these increases long-term and should be looking at new ways to attract and retain staff over the coming months. It was brilliant to see John Lewis’s launch their most recent staff benefits scheme, by offering all staff in Waitrose and John Lewis free meals over the winter months to help support them during the cost-of-living crisis. This is an amazing initiative and will contribute towards recruiting staff as they launch their pre-Christmas campaigns to recruit 10,000 temporary staff in the run-up to Christmas this year.

Our teams at Axiom talk to employers about placing temporary teams and individuals into work places every day and we specialise in industrial, manufacturing, construction and security, if you are looking for a recruiter who can fill those hard-to-fill vacancies get in touch today.