The UK recruitment sector showed signs of recovery in February, with permanent staff placements declining at the weakest rate in nearly three years, according to the latest KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs survey released Monday.
The survey, compiled by S&P Global from responses by around 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies between February 10-23, indicated that permanent staff hiring decreased only marginally last month, marking the slowest decline since March 2023.
Some recruiters noted an improvement in employers’ willingness to recruit new staff, though overall hiring conditions remained subdued.
Temporary billings fell modestly in February, following a slight increase at the start of 2026.
The number of job opportunities across the UK continued to decrease, but the rate of contraction was the slowest recorded since May 2025, as a weaker drop in permanent vacancies offset a slightly quicker reduction in demand for temporary staff.
Pay pressure eased since January, with starting salaries increasing at the softest pace since October 2025. The rate of starting salary inflation slowed in February after hitting a 17-month high in January.
Temporary wage inflation also weakened from the start of the year, with pay rising modestly overall. Rates of pay inflation remained below their long-run trends.
Candidate availability rose at a sharper pace compared to the start of 2026, with February data showing a rapid rise in overall candidate numbers across the UK.
The rate of expansion picked up from January’s one-year low, though the pace of increase remained slower than the average seen over 2025.
A stronger rise in the supply of permanent workers more than offset the softest expansion in temporary candidate numbers since January 2025.
On a regional basis, permanent placements fell at weaker but solid rates in London and the South of England. An increase was seen in the North of England, but the Midlands recorded the first decline in three months.
Temporary billings declined across all four monitored English areas except the Midlands.
Engineering was the only sector to see an improvement in demand for permanent staff during February, with falls seen across the other nine categories monitored by the survey.
The Retail and Hotel & Catering sectors saw the steepest reductions in permanent vacancies. The Retail sector saw the quickest reduction in temporary vacancies.
Source: Investing.com