Contracting’s core disciplines of finance, IT and engineering occupy the second, third and fourth place respectively in the demand league table in the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Report on Jobs for November 2015. Nursing and medical care was the only discipline to outperform contracting.
However, the high levels of demand for contractors are accompanied by another fall in available contractor candidates – the sharpest in 18 years - and worsening skills shortages.
REC chief executive Kevin Green explains: “Such is the demand for staff that the availability of people to fill temporary roles has fallen at the sharpest rate in 18 years. In some sectors, skill shortages could make this a sad Christmas.”
But Green highlights that the news may be less positive for contractors working in the public sector during 2016, although high quality contractors should have no problem making the transition into the private sector, given the skills shortages
“As we look ahead to 2016 the data suggests that the public sector is starting to cut its recruitment activity as austerity bites, while the private sector is still hunting for skills and talent.”
Demand for IT and financial workers also dominated the permanent labour market during November, suggesting that the skills shortages are economy-wide, as KPMG Partner Bernard Brown highlights: “November saw a further tightening of labour market conditions, with few sectors remaining immune from the effects of ongoing skills shortages.
“Recruiters will hope the annual influx of job hunters in January will reinvigorate the market and replenish the rapidly diminishing pool of available talent,” he adds.
The list of contracting skills in short supply identified by recruiters has mushroomed. It now includes multiple financial roles in accounting, audit, compliance, payroll, risk and treasury. Digital marketers and advertising interims are also in particular demand.
The squeeze on skills is also having a positive impact on contractor rates of pay. The report shows that rate increases reached a three-month high during November, with one in four contractor recruiters noting an increase in pay.
Construction remains the only anomaly among the core contracting sectors, as it not only fell to eighth in the demand league table, but demand also contracted marginally. This is at odds with the permanent market in construction that has seen strong demand growth and pay soar, possibly as firms entice workers onto the payroll to hoard skills.