As part of our commitment to being a leader in the Guernsey and Jersey recruitment markets, we’re always analysing the various trends impacting the recruitment sector.
In an industry as competitive and agile as job recruitment, it’s always a good idea to understand the state of the market – whether you’re a jobseeker or an employer.
This is why we’ve put together the most important recruitment agency statistics you should know and how you can use them to support your job search or talent acquisition.
1. The number of weekly job postings has doubled over the last year
In the first week of 2022, the number of weekly job postings sat at around 1.1 million. By the end of last year, this number doubled to around 2.3 million, driven by vacancies in a fast-growing labour market.
With unemployment forecast to hit 5% by the end of this year, there’s more people than ever searching for new roles in the market.
2. Average weekly earnings increased by 7.3% in 2023
In the year to October 2024 salaries rose by 7.2%, down from 8.0% in September YoY. This takes into account total pay including salaries and bonus.
The rate of salary growth has run ahead of the inflation rate for several months, highlighting the rising strength candidate’s have in the current jobs market and how the talent pool is growing rapidly.
Public sector salaries saw the highest increase at 8.6%, while manufacturing also saw increased growth of 7.7%.
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3. Job vacancies take 42 days on average to fill
According to data from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average time to fill a role is 42 days.
While this is heavily dependent on industry, it highlights that recruitment businesses should focus on placing a candidate in the perfect role, rather than rushing to get jobs filled.
This approach also reflects the challenges that many recruitment agencies in the UK are facing – 56% of agencies surveyed this year believe that a competitive talent pool is the largest challenge in the industry right now.
In response to this, many agencies are increasingly looking to the ‘passive candidate market’ to fill any gaps, engaging with professionals that aren’t necessarily actively job searching.
4. The UK recruitment market hit a value of £141 billion by 2023
UK recruitment has played a huge part in the economy’s post-pandemic recovery and as such, has seen exceptional growth – increasing by £20 billion since 2019.
So what is driving this growth? It’s largely due to an influx of recruitment agencies focusing on meeting both client and candidate needs, supporting an expanding market and all of the opportunities that come with such rapid advancements.
5. Recruitment agencies accounted for 25 million temp and contract roles being filled
In the latest report by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, data suggests that around 25.7 million placements were made across temporary and contract roles in 2022, compared to 22 million in 2021.
This not only emphasises the importance that a recruitment agency plays in the field but demonstrates the strength of an agency when it comes to filling these types of roles or supporting temporary and contract workers in the market.
If you need the support of a recruitment agency in filling permanent, temporary or contract roles, we’re able to provide a broad range of services from salary benchmarking and talent acquisition through to job searching and career guidance. You can take a look at our full recruitment services here or if you want to kickstart your job search, you can submit your CV here and let us start finding you your dream role.