UK hiring pace slows further in June

London - Permanent staff placements by recruitment agencies in Britain rose at their slowest pace in more than two years in June, largely due to a lack of skilled candidates, a survey showed on Wednesday.

Salaries for permanent hires grew at their slowest pace in four months but remained well above the historical trend, according to the survey produced by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and accountants KPMG.

"Recruiters are struggling to fill vacancies for everything from software engineers to sales," Bernard Brown, a partner at KPMG, said. Skills shortages were driving up pay, he added.

The Bank of England is watching Britain's labour market closely as it considers when to start raising interest rates from their record low of 0.5%. Official data has shown an increase in earnings in recent months.