\u2018It\u2019s time to rethink recruitment to make it faster and fairer\u2019<\/a><\/p>\nNeil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, said the figures reflected a seasonal slowdown, but argued the underlying market remained resilient.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cDespite a long slowdown driven by uncertainty and rising costs, the British labour market is still creating lots of opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cRecruiters tell us that firms entered the summer break with a little more positivity than they had earlier in the year, so there is some hope of a bounce once the summer slowdown is over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200bCarberry added that government policy would be critical in maintaining momentum. \u201cIf ministers want growth, they must deliver stability and backing for businesses, by moderating policy costs, reforming skills funding and putting the workforce at the heart of economic strategy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u200bWages rising as hiring slows<\/p>\n
\u200bSeparate figures from Employment Hero also indicated softer hiring intentions. Employment levels grew by 2.7 per cent year-on-year, down from the 8.3 per cent increase seen in July 2024, according to its July jobs report.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, wages continued to rise, following increases in the national minimum wage. Across all age groups, pay rose by 2.7 per cent, while Generation Z saw their wages grow by 5.6 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u200bKeven Fitzgerald, UK managing director of Employment Hero, said that a mix of rising pay and weaker hiring was hitting smaller firms hardest. \u201cThat combination of slower hiring but higher pay is putting real pressure on small businesses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u200bHe added that fewer seasonal opportunities for young people could have longer-term consequences. \u201cIt\u2019s sad to see summer jobs declining as they\u2019re such an important part of growing up,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout that stepping stone, young people will enter their first full-time roles without their skills being tested and that makes life harder for them and harder for the employers trying to manage them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opportunities for HR<\/p>\n
Despite the challenging labour market conditions, the summer slowdown could present opportunities for HR teams to secure top talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Data from recruitment company Michael Page showed that 20 per cent of job seekers plan to start their search in the summer period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Recruiting during these months could see employers face less competition in the jobs market, with Michael Page advising companies to streamline their recruitment approach and ensure clarity and transparency throughout the hiring process.<\/p>\n
For more guidance, read the CIPD\u2019s factsheet on recruitment and selection<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK labour market saw fewer new job postings in July, signalling a \u201csummer slowdown\u201d for the UK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64,63,99,180],"class_list":{"0":"post-87489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-jobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}