REC, the Recruitment Employment Confederation issued its latest statement about the current UK labour market. “Slowest falls in permanent placements and temporary billings for seven months” and “Permanent salaries and temp pay decreased at least marked pace since January” whilst “Candidate availability continued to improve strongly”.
This is good news (dare I say it, a green shoot?) as it looks like the job market is not declining as quickly as we’ve seen in recent months. Of course it is only a statement stating a slowing in the decline and not a reversal yet. There are still fewer permanent and contract roles available, and there are no exceptions in the project management job market. The statement from REC also highlights a reduction in rates and salaries for the people who did secure roles, again we’ve also been seeing a slight reduction in rates but not as much as you would be led to believe in project management roles. Whilst it’s true that there are more candidates available for roles and hence more competition, employing organisations are not tempted to cut salaries as ultimately this doesn’t make great business sense. Organisations still need to be able to attract the best project management professionals, and the best doesn’t come at cut down rates (for the best, read, in demand and already in post). Organisations also need to manage their talent pool for today as well as for tomorrow, and offering slashed rates and reduced salaries in today’s market is not a great incentive for employee retention (sure, people will take a role today at a reduced salary or rate because there are bills to pay, as soon as we see a brighter economy, they’ll be off at the drop of a hat)
