Demand for specialist roles has increased in the last quarter, despite an overall slowdown in the labour market. The Totaljobs Hiring Trends Index, which offers an up-to-date view of the labour market and recruitment trends, has found that whilst three-quarters (78%) of businesses recruited in Q4, this has dipped from 84% in the previous quarter. What’s more, the study shows that only 30% of employers increased their recruitment efforts at the tail end of 2022 –a fall from 35% in the previous quarter’s figures.
However, whilst recruiting has slowed in a number of sectors, hiring for specialist and more senior roles remains strong. Nearly one in five (17%) businesses have reported that they will increase their spend for hiring specialist roles, vs 15% this time last year.
The sectors most anticipating an increase in specialist hiring spend were education (27%), IT & Telecoms (21%) and transport & distribution (20%). The sectors falling behind this trend were retail (10%) and legal (9%).
