Jobs Outlook: January 2021

Key points:
– Employer confidence in making hiring and investment decisions further improved by four percentage points this quarter, sitting in positive territory at net: +5.
– Hiring intentions for permanent staff rose to net: +24 in both the short term and the medium term this quarter. This is compared to the net: +21 and net: +26, respectively, that we saw in October–December 2019.
– At net: +5, short-term hiring intentions for agency workers was lower than in October – December 2019 (net: +9). In contrast, at net: +13, medium-term demand was ten percentage points higher than a year earlier.
– Three in ten (28%) employers reported making redundancies in the past 12 months, while two in five (39%) had reduced workers’ hours. In both cases this was up from just 10% in the year to October–December 2019.
– Levels of satisfaction with candidates presented by recruiters rose from 67% in October–December 2019 to 79% this quarter. Satisfaction with agencies themselves rose from 65% to 78% over the same period.
– In December 2020 just 17% of employers said that recruiting new staff would be one of their biggest challenges for 2021. Meanwhile 41% said that ongoing health restrictions would be one of their biggest challenges.

Source: REC, 2021

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