Temp billings expand for first time in three months

While permanent placements have fallen at the quickest rate since January, temp billings edged up for the first time in three months.

These findings are not surprising considering the current heightened market uncertainty.

Employers turning to contractors

The war in Iran and rising business costs have certainly contributed to a faster fall in permanent staff appointments across the country.

Some employers are instead preferring to hire flexible workers, which has meant that temp billings have edged up slightly for the first time since the start of 2026.

The KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs survey also found that while pay indicators picked up from March, they continued to signal historically weak rates of both starting salary and wage growth.

Greater demand for short term staff

Looking at sector trends, the survey shows that across the ten monitored job categories, engineering was the only area to register an increase in demand for permanent workers in April, with the rate of expansion solid overall.

A greater demand for short-term staff was reported across the nursing/medical/care and blue collar sectors. Temporary vacancies across the engineering sector were unchanged, while the steepest drop in temp job opportunities was recorded in retail.

Commenting on the findings, Neil Carberry, REC Chief Executive, said, “So far this year we’ve seen signs of improving momentum, but that is now being tempered by the economic effects of the Gulf conflict.

“Businesses will be particularly concerned about the impact on inflation, their borrowing costs and any disruption to wider supply chains.

“The good news is that employers are leaning more on temporary work to move ahead with their plans in this more uncertain time, demonstrating again why temporary and contract work matters so much to growth and jobs. The temporary sector showed its strongest growth in two and a half years last month.

“Government can do more to help firms feel able to commit to permanent hiring too, by addressing the cost of doing business – the key domestic contributor to hiring activity. Taking the threat of badly designed guaranteed hours rules off the table would make a huge difference.”

To find out more about contracting, please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com.