“The war for talent has begun,” says the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Tom Hadley, noting that “skills shortages in whole sectors like engineering and IT...are spurring competition for qualified staff.
“This is good news for workers, but also highlights the need to address the current skills disconnect, which presents a major barrier to growth in key sectors of our economy.”
Hadley was commenting on the latest REC/KPMG Report on Jobs. It shows that contractor demand increased again in January 2013, the sixth consecutive month of growth, albeit at a slower pace than the previous month.
Specific contractor skills shortages pinpointed by recruiters included building services, general engineering, and IT developers. Oil and gas candidates for permanent roles are also in short supply, confirming recent reports that contracting in the sector is booming. In fact, it is said to be soaking up the best candidates and tempting permanent employees into much better paid contract roles.
Nearly all the core contracting sectors performed strongly during January, with engineering and construction in second place in the demand league table after nursing and medical care. IT was in joint fifth place, alongside secretarial/clerical.
The accounting and financial sector has leapt up to third place from sixth in December 2012, which is the third month the sector has been in positive territory. Strong hiring in the sector potentially signals that the UK’s troubled financial sector is showing signs of recovery.
“The only category where a fall was signalled was executive/professional, albeit this was only slight,” said the report. January was the second successive month of falling demand for interim management contractors.
“All four English regions posted growth of temp billings during January,” continues the report, “albeit at varying rates. The strongest expansion was signalled in the North, whereas Midlands-based agencies saw only a marginal increase.”
There was a similar stratification of contractor pay rates by region. Overall, rates of pay declined marginally, but “the North and South of England saw moderate increases in temp pay, whereas declines were signalled in the Midlands and London.”