Contractor demand and billings reached 13- and 14-month highs respectively during September 2012. The latest KPMG/Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Report on Jobs also highlights that engineers are second most in-demand after nurses and medical care staff.
“This month’s figures show that the temporary labour market has bouncebackability,” said REC chief executive Kevin Green in response to last month’s labour market performance. Noting that the contracting sector appears to be more positive than some other aspects of the economy at present, he described contractors as: “an efficient, flexible way for businesses to increase their workforce and grow their businesses out of recession.”
The increase in both demand and billings suggests that supply is broadly meeting demand, but there remain strong regional variations. The Midlands was well ahead in the contractor demand regional table, whereas London experienced falling demand.
There was evidence that austerity measures may finally be starting to impact on public sector headcounts, as the rate of permanent placements fell sharply. And although declining, the demand for contractors in the public sector is significantly greater than the demand for employees.
This is perhaps an indication of public sector organisations keeping headcount reductions on target whilst retaining capacity by using contractors to continue delivering services.
IT contractor demand remained firmly in growth territory during September, but it has slipped to fifth place in the contractor demand league table, down from third place in September, and overtaken by demand for blue collar and secretarial/clerical temporary workers.
IT contractors seeking a spell as a permanent employee will be pleased to learn that IT & Computing in the permanent sector is outperforming its contracting counterpart, being firmly in growth territory and in third place in the demand league table.
General IT and Java top skills shortages in IT. Last month’s engineering and construction skills shortages included energy, oil and gas and water.
REC’s Green believes that growing contracting sector activity may signal a return to economic growth: “This increase in the use of temps for the second month in a row could be a sign of optimism among employers, and that they are gearing up for future growth.
“The data provides encouraging signs for the economy, with demand for staff continuing to increase and candidate availability rising.”