Data for the professional sectors from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has continued to show an upward trend for the third month running. The data, provided by analytics platform cube19 showed permanent vacancies were up 116 per cent compared with May last year (up from 90 per cent in April) while contract openings rose by 120 per cent (up from 83 per cent in April).
These vacancy registrations with recruitment firms are a clear sign that skill shortages are still rife in professional sectors and that recruitment firms have an important part to play in sourcing those skills. In fact, the data also shows the success of the recruitment sector in sourcing this much needed talent with sales revenue from permanent placements up 170 per cent when compared with the same month last year (up from 97 per cent in April) and revenue from contract assignments up by 140 per cent – more than double last month’s 64 per cent.
Commenting on the data, Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo said: “We are now seeing a clear trend of recovery from our monthly data which mirrors the economic forecasts we are seeing from government. It is also clear that this continues to be a candidate led market with skills shortages in all our professional sectors. Recent macroeconomic factors such as Brexit and the resulting immigration policy, making it difficult for skilled contractors to work in the UK, will only exacerbate these skill shortages which means a busy time ahead for recruitment firms. As we go into the summer and restrictions start to relax even further, we expect to see the data getting better and better.”
Joe McGuire, Chief Revenue Office at cube19 agrees: “Consistency is one of the most important things in business and we are now seeing that return. With the vaccine roll-out continuing positively and the end of restrictions in sight, growth and consistency look like they are here to stay.”
