The July-September survey showed employer confidence in making hiring and investment decisions improved to net neutral in the quarter with short-term and medium-term demand for permanent staff continued to improve by +13 and +17 respectively.

At the same time, 63% of the 600 respondents said they thought economic conditions in the country as a whole were worsening.

A third (35%) of employers reported having no spare resource capacity in the quarter of July to September, a figure rising to 43% among mid-sized employers across all regions and sectors, the outlook report said. 

Seven in 10 employers said they were satisfied with their recruitment agency partners, which rose to 77% among private sector employers.

Three in 10 respondents expected a shortage of temporary agency workers when they were surveyed in July through to September. “This was up from 20% in the previous rolling quarter but down from 36% who expressed the same sentiment last year,” the report said. “Indicative figures suggest that levels of concern remained particularly high in the health and social care sector.”

Other highlights of the Outlook included:

• 19% of employers have made redundancies in the last year
• 27% had reduced hours
• 15% had reduced pay/earnings
• 19% had frozen headcount
• 43% had increased staffing
• 48% had increased pay/earnings

REC CEO Neil Carberry said: “After the record lows of the spring, a return to growing confidence is great news… The big test is ensuring this jobs recovery can continue as businesses have to keep working online in the face of a renewed rise in Coronavirus cases.”

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