Skills shortages in all sectors are inevitably having a significant impact on the recruitment industry, with three in five (58%) saying that they have at least 30% more roles to fill now than before the pandemic. Almost every respondent to the REC survey (97%) said that it was taking longer than usual to fill those vacancies, which only exacerbates the problem. Half (50%) reported that it now takes more than a month to find suitable candidates.
Recruiters reported a number of factors were affecting their ability to source candidates. The top reason given by respondents was skills shortages (65%), followed by the new immigration rules (57%) and their clients not being able to offer competitive salaries (53%).
If you are a temporary worker, you are likely to be in more demand than ever. According to latest ONS labour market statistics, the number of temporary workers increased by 10.1% from May 2021 through July 2021.
The increase in temporary workers once again shows the critical importance of the UK’s army of independent workers to the economy. The current jobs market means that businesses are having difficulty finding candidates to fill their vacancies so are increasingly reliant on temporary and contract workers to get them through. However even the availability of temporary workers is going to run out at some point in the future, so businesses may need to consider other options.
