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London - Britain’s job market is booming, but concern is increasing about where companies are going to keep finding workers.
The number of permanent jobs grew at the fastest rate in more than two years in July, while the availability of workers fell sharply, according to a report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation published on Tuesday. It said that helped boost a measure of starting salaries to the highest in 20 months.
The pace of hiring in recent years has pushed UK employment to a record and sent the jobless rate to the lowest since the 1970s.
Kevin Green, chief executive officer of REC, which compiles the report with IHS Markit, said that while the jobs market “continues to confound expectations,” a shrinking pool of workers means that employers are “having to work even harder to fill jobs.”
He also said the results show the importance to the UK of having easy access to labour from other European Union nations after Brexit, and warned that any clampdown on immigration could have an effect.
In London, caution among financial-services firms is making them hesitant, pushing recruitment in the city to its weakest in eight months, according to the report.
Open Britain, which campaigns for continued close ties with the EU, said the survey shows that Brexit is “hitting British companies,” and the government should drop its migration target.
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