The past year has been challenging for the recruitment sector, with economic uncertainty and global instability affecting client confidence.
Some businesses have reduced headcount, while others have decided not to backfill, as caution rules. As we head into 2024, there are positive economic signals, with inflation slowing and interest rates topping out. Will this increasing economic confidence translate into greater opportunities for 2024?
Economic headwinds
While inflation has slowed in most major developed economies this year, financial markets remain fragile. The UK’s inflation rate is set to halve to 3.65 in 2024 – from 7.66% in 2023. It’s a picture mapped across the rest of the world, with experts forecasting Consumer Price Index inflation to fall to 4.3% in 2024, down from 6.0% in 2023 and 8.7% in 2022.
Rapid interest rate rises have helped to reduce fears of runaway inflation, with most insiders suggesting rates have peaked. But businesses – and consumers – must get used to higher borrowing costs, says the Federal Open Market Committee and with the recent developments in the Middle East markets will undoubtedly be affected.
Whether lingering economic uncertainty is going to see employers favouring temporary hiring over permanent positions it is important that as a business we remain agile and flexible for our clients – understanding their needs and delivering the right solution to meet their objectives.
If you have any hiring needs, whether it is building a team from scratch, hiring the best c-suite executive, or getting the right contractors in to complete a project – please get in touch with us via [email protected] or [email protected]
