Politicians grappling with stagnant UK productivity should look to the recruitment sector. Recruitment agency productivity rose in 2019, despite static staff numbers.

Last year the average recruiter had 0.2% fewer team members than in 2018, according to the median recruiter in the RIB Index across 2019. Despite this small fall, however, productivity levels increased by an average of 2.3%, measured by net fee income (NFI) or Net Disposable Revenue (NDR). This was not driven by an increase in fee earners, since the proportion of non-fee-earning staff rose from 28.6% to 30.6%. Small shifts in the recruitment agency employee base can therefore affect productivity significantly.

Belinda Johnson runs employment research consultancy Worklab, and is Associate Knowledge & Insight Director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB). The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry benchmarks and trends. www.ribindex.com