Contractors experienced accelerated demand and the strongest increase in rates for three months during December 2014. Alongside a three-month high in contractor agency billings’ growth and ongoing sharp falls in contractor availability, this points to the contracting sector being at a quarterly high at the end of 2014.
The latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC)/KPMG Report on Jobs also highlights that election fears could impact negatively on the UK labour market. Kevin Green, REC chief executive, explains: “Economic growth for 2015 looks sustainable, however the concern now is that political uncertainty could spook the market as we approach a general election.
“The prospect of increased government intervention in the labour market as promised by the Left, questions around Britain’s position in the European Union (EU) which are being posed by the Right, and the potential for protracted negotiations around a hung parliament come May could affect business confidence and hence future hiring.”
However, the UK’s flexible workforce of contractors and independent professionals may benefit from any uncertainty pre- and post-election, as clients choose to hire contract workers to manage their employment risk.
Election issues aside, partner and head of business services at KPMG Bernard Brown is upbeat about contractor prospects for 2015: “A strong year for the UK jobs market finished with a flourish as temporary roles saw an upswing in popularity. More than one in three recruiters suggest that employees looking for short-term roles are being increasingly spoilt for choice as organisations search for help.”
In the contractor demand league tables, non-core contracting disciplines dominated during December. Pressures on the healthcare, hospitality and logistics sectors on the run up to Christmas caused nursing/medical care, blue collar and hotel & catering to occupy the top three spots.
IT & computing is the first contracting discipline to feature in fifth place, followed by accounting/financial, engineering, construction and executive professional. Despite being pushed down the table by better performing disciplines, all five contracting sectors continued to show strong growth in demand at the end of 2014.