KPMG has reported that the UK saw its slowest growth of job vacancies for seven months during March 2013.
The latest findings form part of its Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and report on jobs, collated through survey data provided by recruitment consultancies.
The availability of candidates to fill permanent job roles decreased for a fourth successive month in March. However, KPMG pointed out that the rate of deterioration remained only “modest.” It said the availability of temporary/contract staff meanwhile increased slightly, maintaining the trend seen since the turn of the year.
It was also better news on the pay front with the company reporting that permanent staff salaries and temporary and contract staff pay both increased at moderate rates over the month. It said in the case of the latter, inflation was at a 12-month high.
The Midlands, North and South all registered higher permanent placements in March. London, however, saw a renewed decline following two months of growth.
Private sector vacancies continued to increase during March. Expansions were signalled for both permanent and temporary staff, however KPMG pointed out that these were at slower rates compared with February.
In the public sector, demand for temporary workers increased for the first time in three months. However, demand for permanent employees was down marginally.
The strongest rate of expansion was signalled for IT and Computing staff, a trend carried on from February, while hotel and catering registered the slowest growth of vacancies.
For the fourteenth consecutive month, nursing/medical/care was the most in-demand category for temporary/contract staff during March.
