KPMG & REC Report on Jobs December 2024
The headline figures evidence:
- Higher payroll expenses weighing on recruitment decisions
- Pay growth remains modest for November
- Demand for staff declines to the greatest degree in over four years
In other words, businesses are reassessing budgets and hiring plans post-budget.
It's what was expected by the recruitment industry but with news of the country's modest growth slowing and the lack of consumer confidence, fears now are that we are heading for a recession, with jobs going in hospitality and retail in the New Year. More to follow, ahead of the April tax hike and NMW increases.
Looking at this more positively, which is tough, resilient SME business owners will do what they always do. Rest over the Christmas break, and return with a sense of worrying only about what they can manage - brushing themselves off, adapting, changing, and pressing on with surviving. Budgets will be much tighter, prices will be hiked, and pay rises will be non-existent but otherwise business as usual.
Let's hope, eh?
Contact us now for a free, no-obligation chat. Contact Clare here.
Clare Wight is the founder and Managing Director of Clarity Appointments, an independent recruitment specialist. She served as a Regional Director for The Employment Agents Movement, supporting other independent recruiters.
She remains an active member of Recconnect (formerly Members Only), a recruitment leadership network promoting high ethical standards, collaboration, diversity, equity and inclusion.
She believes business owners are more fulfilled and higher-performing when they provide emotional and professional business support to other business owners, even those they deem to be competitors. She does this actively, whilst challenging and updating her skills and knowledge of the recruitment sector, enabling her to offer the best advice to firms looking to make their next hire.
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