REC: Jobs Outlook - January 2023 - Anticipated demand for agency workers continues to rise
Wednesday, 25 January 2023
Anticipated demand for agency workers continues to rise
Confidence
In October-December 2022, business confidence in the UK economy rose by 2% to net: -68 from net: -70 in the previous rolling quarter. Employers in December (net: -65) were more optimistic than in November (net: -71) and October (net: -68).
Employers’ confidence in making hiring and investment, on the other hand, fell by 1% compared to the previous rolling quarter. At net: -30, the barometer has been in negative territory for 9 months.
Permanent recruitment
Do you think the number of permanent workers in your organisation will increase or decrease in the next three months?
In October-December 2022, employers’ intentions to hire permanent staff in the short-term dropped by 6% to net: +11. Regionally, sentiment was more optimistic in the Midlands and the devolved nations (net: +12), followed by the North of England and the South excluding London (net: +11). When it comes to business size, mid-sized (50-249 employee) organisations’ sentiment remained higher net: +16, while large-sized (250+ employee) organisations’ sentiment remained positive at net: +14. Forecast demand for the private and public sectors both decreased to net: +12 and net: +5 from net: +17 and net: +15, respectively.
Temporary recruitment
Do you think the number of agency workers in your organisation will increase or decrease in the next three months?
In contrast, employers’ intentions to hire temporary agency workers in the short-term rose by 4% to net: +7. Whilst hiring intentions increased by 11% in the devolved nations to net: +29, London (net: -9) also recorded a 17% rise in sentiment. Forecast demand for large-sized (250+ employee) enterprises stayed strong in positive territory at net: +18, but mid-sized (50-249 employee) enterprises’ demand dropped to net: -7 from net: -6. While hiring outlook for private sector employers rose by 3% to net: +6, public sector employers’ sentiment remained the same at net: +8.
Topical question
More than six in ten employers believe that the lack of government support (65%) will be one of the biggest barriers to creating green jobs for the UK.
Other employers believe that micro and macro financial pressures on businesses (55.2%), a workforce that lacks ‘green skills’ (54.5%), and the inability to invest in green technology (53.3%) are the UK’s biggest barriers to creating green jobs.
JobsOutlook Topical Questions
Please find a collection of the latest topical questions from our JobsOutlook survey. The questions are a key source of insight and cover a range of current and past issues of interest for the REC and its members. If you are an REC member, you get an access to not only our monthly surveys, exclusive reports and analysis but also our Topical Questions archive for the last 5 years.
