LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - British job vacancies grew at the
slowest pace in eight months in December, according to a survey
of recruiters, but overall labour market conditions remained
tight as many employers struggled to find staff.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said
demand for staff had eased only slightly since record levels in
the autumn of 2021. Staff absences due to the Omicron variant of
coronavirus had boosted demand for temporary workers, especially
in the healthcare sector.
"2022 will be the year we discover staff shortages will
outlive the pandemic as an economic issue," REC chief executive
Neil Carberry said.
"Demand for staff is growing across every sector and region
of the UK, and candidate availability is still falling. These
trends have been slowing for the past few months, but that is
not surprising considering the record pace of change earlier,"
he added.
Staff shortages and wage growth that appears faster than
pre-pandemic rates are a large part of the reason why the Bank
of England raised interest rates last month for the first time
since the start of the pandemic, ahead of other central banks.
While the central bank expects factors such as rising energy
prices that are pushing inflation to a 30-year high of around
6%will soon ease, it fears residual pressures will stop
inflation falling back fully to its 2% target unless interest
rates rise.
REC said starting salaries for permanent staff and hourly
rates for temporary workers rose at close to the record pace
seen earlier in 2021. Spending on temporary staff rose at the
fastest rate in four months.
Official data for the three months to November showed 1.219
million job vacancies, a record high and around 50% more than
before the pandemic.
"Employers in all sectors haven't lost their appetite to
hire, but many will be frustrated by the pressure these
inflationary and competitive conditions, which are likely to
continue for some time," said Claire Warnes, head of education
and skills at consultants KPMG, which sponsors the survey.
(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Andy Bruce)