Issue 32 December 2015
RECRUITMENT MATTERS The View and The Intelligence
2015 in Review
Legal update and the IRP
Events and training
Golden rules for the industry p2-3
We look back on the year p4
Conduct regulations and IRP fellows p6-7
IRP Awards and more Greg Savage
p8
KEY STATS
BUSINESS IS £31.5 PICKING UP 9% RECRUITMENT
BN
UK RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY IN 2014-15
MARKET GROWTH IN 2014-15
INDUSTRY WORTH £31.5 BILLION The ‘golden age of recruitment’ has arrived in style, with the UK industry booming. The ‘2014-15 Recruitment Industry Trends Survey’ has found the UK recruitment market is now worth £31.5bn, up £1.8bn on the previous year. It’s also £4.5bn larger than the market was before the last recession. REC chief executive Kevin Green says the UK market is in the best shape it’s been in for 20 years.
@RECPress RM_DEC_15.indd 1
“People often ask me if recruitment’s a big industry. We’re bigger than plastics, we’re bigger than fashion, we’re bigger than electronics, we’re bigger than toys,” he says. “As an industry we need to punch our weight and talk about the value we bring to the economy.” The report predicts the industry will grow a further 9% in 2015-16 and 8% in 2016-17. Permanent revenue rose
11.5% this year to £2.9bn, with temporary and contract revenue up 9.5% to £28.5bn. It’s the second highest rise permanent business has seen. “We have got as good an environment to operate a recruitment business as you can have,” Green says. Permanent margins have also risen. Eight per cent of fees charged being more than 25%, up from 2% in 2013-14. But the story is different for temporary and contract margins. Seventeen per
11.5%
PERMANENT BUSINESS
9.5%
TEMPORARY BUSINESS
cent of recruiters received fees under 9% for temp and contract roles. A little more than 45% of recruiters were paid 10-14% in fees. The full report is free for REC members and can be downloaded at rec.uk.com/ research
www.rec.uk.com 11/11/2015 15:02