Australian recruiters will be hoping the growth currently being seen in the UK recruitment industry will translate to a similar trend here.
According to a report by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), the value of the recruitment industry to the UK economy has risen to GBP 35.1 billion per year.
"The recruitment industry is bigger than ever before and contributes more to the UK economy than advertising, arts and recreation, and the food and beverage industry," said REC CEO Kevin Green.
"Our industry is the engine that drives the UK jobs market, enabling people to find the right job and businesses to find the talent they need to succeed."
"Our industry is the engine that drives the UK jobs market."
UK leading global trend towards temporary job market?
Key data from the REC's 'Recruitment Industry Trends 2015/16' report reveal several interesting hiring trends.
Incredibly, over three-quarters (76.1 per cent) of the value added to the UK economy by the recruitment industry could be traced to temp or contract work placements, the majority of which were longer than 12 weeks.
The top three sectors in which recruiters made permanent hires over the 2015 to 2016 period were professional/managerial, secretarial/clerical and technical/engineering, while for temp placements the top three were accounting/financial, industrial/blue collar, and secretarial/clerical.
Recruiters hiring for permanent roles noted their biggest concern to be a shortage of skills and experience, while those hiring for temp assignments said Brexit was their main worry.
Of note, an astounding 9,565 recruitment agencies (with turnover above GBP 250,000) were operating in the UK at the time the REC report was written.
Australian data suggests non full-time roles on the rise
Data reported by Seek last year showed that the strong trend towards non full-time roles within Australia – such as contract and temp positions, part-time and casual jobs – continued to rise.
Steve Shepherd, employment market analyst and director of social and public affairs at Randstad, suggested that many candidates now see temp or contract work as a more secure option than full-time work.
"A temporary worker may work for multiple employers, so if it runs out with one, they will still get it somewhere else," Sheppard said.
"I think we're seeing a rise of people looking at different choices and at what's most important to them. I do think there's a much stronger demand for flexible working arrangements, and we're seeing this around the world."
"We're seeing a rise of people looking at different choices."
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