If you believe the hype, the credit crunch, while it may be bad news for people looking for permanent jobs, is proving to be a boon for the temporary financial recruitment sector.
Research seems to suggest that the current economic uncertainty means companies are less inclined to invest in hiring permanent staff, preferring instead to take on temporary workers, at least until the crisis blows over.
A study by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has found that while permanent appointments within UK business have declined, temporary job placements are continuing to rise.
The results, gathered from data from recruitment consultancies and employers, showed that while permanent places fell for the second time in three months, temp billings rose at the strongest rate since last November.
Kevin Green, the chief executive of the REC, explains:
"The credit crunch is continuing to slow permanent job growth, however employers still need to resource. An increasing number of companies are using temps as a way to ride the storm."
And it seems this trend is expected to continue. A recent survey of human resource managers by the REC found that a quarter of respondents expected the number of temporary workers they employ to rise within the next six months.
Alan Nolan, Director at KPMG, says the figures show that employers are using temps as a way of “dealing with the current economic uncertainty and financial crisis".
Mr Nolan adds that this phenomenon is seen most clearly in the finance sector.
All of which should mean that we at GAAPweb should have seen a marked increase in the percentage of temp roles placed on the site.
Our research however found that not to be the case at all. In fact the ratios of different types of roles on our site has remained remarkably constant from month to month, with around 18-20% of the total roles placed on the site being temporary.
So if it is a widespread phenomenon, GAAPweb appears to be bucking the trend. For now at least, it seems it’s business as usual at GAAPweb.
