Contractor availability reached a seven-month low during the General Election month of May 2015 that is resulting in a contract rich environment across all of the core contracting disciplines.
This is according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG Report on Jobs for May 2015, which also shows the best source of contracts to be in the Midlands and London. Contractor agency billings and rates also increased during May.
“Contractor demand growth is in the UK hubs of engineering and financial excellence – London and the Midlands – so contractors with the right skills have it all to gain from focusing on winning work in these locations,” highlights ContractorCalculator CEO Dave Chaplin.
However, Kevin Green, REC chief executive, warned that using contingent workers to cover worsening skills shortages is not a long-term solution: “It’s imperative that the new government gets to grips with skills shortages because a jobs crisis is looming. Recruiters are doing a great job at getting more and more people into work, but four in ten of those recruiters say that the availability of candidates is getting worse each month.”
Bernard Brown, Partner at KPMG, added: “The UK job market saw a slight slowdown in May, as those on boards took time to digest the election result and work out the ramifications for their business. This pause did not dampen temporary staff placements, and temp billings rose for a twenty-fifth consecutive month.”
Contracting in the core areas performed well in the demand league tables, with accounting & financial in fourth place, up from ninth since last year. IT & computing held its own in sixth position. Engineering and construction still made the top ten, in eighth and ninth places respectively.
The increase in contractor placements is being linked to rising workloads at client companies. Business is continuing to grow, which is increasing the volume of new orders, but there are just not enough skilled staff to fulfil them. This leaves the door wide open for contractors who are available for work.