Recruitment statistics in the UK

Recruitment plays a huge role in UK businesses, the overall economy and even our personal lives.

To understand it’s challenges, success and impact, we gathered all the key facts, data and statistics surrounding UK recruitment from the most reputable sources across the web, and put them all here, in this well-organised page.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

How many companies are hiring in the UK?

• The ONS states that the estimated number of vacancies in February to April 2024 was 898,000, a decrease of 2.8% from November January 2024
• According to the CIPD 67% of UK employers are planning to recruit new staff in 2024
• 82% of public sector employers are planning to hire, and 62% in the private sector.
• 1 in 5 UK employers ae planning to make redundancies in 2024.

 

What are the recruitment challenges we face in the UK?

Recruiting good staff is one of business’s biggest challenges, but what are the key issues facing UK recruitment?

 

UK skills shortages

• A report by the Learning & Work Institute found that there is shortfall of 2.5 million highly-skilled workers in the UK and an oversupply of 8.1 million people with low or intermediate skills.
• A study by The Open University found that the current skill shortage in the UK is costing businesses £6.6 billion per year, as firms pay out to fill the skills gap with recruitment fees, raised salaries and temporary hires.
• The UK has a digital skills shortage with a study by Amazon finding that there is only 1 qualified person available for every 7 digital vacancies.

 

 

Are recruiters finding it hard to find staff in the UK?

Do recruitment professionals find it difficult to hire the right staff? And if so, why?

• The CIPD reported that 37% of UK employers currently have “hard to fill” vacancies (described as a position which remains vacant for a sustained period) and 29% expect “significant problems” in hiring during 2024.
• A quarter of recruiters say that they are struggling to fill jobs that do not offer remote working options according to a recent Career Plus survey.
• Oleeo recently reported that three quarters of recruiters say that attracting suitable talent is their biggest challenge.
• A survey by SparkHire found that 73% of job applicants are not qualified for the jobs they apply to.
• Builtin recently reported that the average vacancy in the UK receives 118 applications
• A Protocol survey found that one in three business have made a bad hire because of the need to fill the position quickly.
• According to the Brandon Hall Group 95% of UK businesses admit to making at least one bad hiring decision every year.

 

How successful is recruitment in the UK?

How successful is the function of recruitment in the UK, based on some of the industries most widely used performance metrics?

• Number of vacancies filled – The REC reported that 25 million temp and contract roles were filled by recruiters in 2022
• Time to fill – The average time to fill a vacancy in the UK is 42 days according to HireVue – this is the amount of time taken from officially opening the vacancy, to having a candidate accept a job offer.
• Time to hire – A recent survey carried out by us here at StandOut CV found that the average time to hire in the UK is 4.9 weeks – this is the time from a candidate applying for a job, to them accepting the job offer.
• Staff turnover – The CIPD report that on average 35% of employees leave their employer every year.
• Staff tenure – CIPD data shows that the average employee stays with an employer for 2-5 years before leaving.

 

How do UK companies recruit staff?

• The CIPD recently found that 59% of businesses hire recruitment agencies to help them secure good staff
• Only 1 in 10 recruitment managers find success through traditional recruitment methods such as newspapers and job centres.
• 91% of UK employers are using some form of social media to attract talent (Glassdoor)
• 82% of companies attract passive candidates (people who are not actively job seeking) through social media recruitment (Post Beyond)
• A recent SSR study revealed that in the UK, 70% of enterprise-size businesses use ATS software to screen CVs and 20% of small and medium businesses also do.
• Globally 99% of all Fortune 500 companies use ATS software for candidate screening.
• 69% of UK employers are incorporating video interviews into their recruitment process in 2024.

 

 

How much is Britain spending on recruitment?

• The average cost of hiring an employee in the UK (cost per hire) is £6,125.00 according to the CIPD. This factors internal costs such as recruitment staff and pro-rata salary of other employees who are involved in recruitment activities, such as interviewing – it also factors external costs such as job adverts and recruitment agency fees.
• The average total cost to fill a management role is £19,000.00
• Monster reported that the average recruitment agency fee in the UK is £4,500.00
• The UK recruitment market is currently valued at £141 billion (Mintel) and adds £43 billion to the British economy every year (REC)
• Research by Oxford Economics and Unum suggests staff turnover costs businesses an average of £30,614 per employee.

 

Recruitment agency statistics

• The RISR state there is currently 30,035 recruitment agencies operating in the UK
• 31% of all recruitment agencies are located in London

 

 

What is the impact of ineffective recruitment?

• A REC report found that a bad hire of a candidate at manager level with a £42K salary can cost a business a total of £132,000 in wasted salary, training and lost productivity across the department.
• Brandon Hall found that a bad hire can reduce team productivity by 72%

 

How good is the candidate experience in the UK?

Candidate experience refers to the experience a person has when progressing through an employer’s hiring process – here are some highlights from our own detailed study into this topic:

• 60% of job seekers have abandoned a job application due to its length and complexity.
• 52% of candidates have to wait 3 months or longer to receive a response from a job application.
• A quarter of job seekers have experienced lateness from hiring managers when attending an interview.
• One in ten candidates have left an employer within the first month due to a bad onboarding experience.

 

 

AI in recruitment statistics

• Vervoe found that 11% of recruitment agencies are using AI to automate recruitment processes.
• In February 2024 Adecco reported that 43% of companies are using some form of AI to interview potential hires – which involves candidates answering automated questions whilst being filmed, without a person from the employer being present.
• A LinkedIn survey of HR professionals and hiring mangers found that 68% were very hopeful that generative AI could be used to save them time and improve their processes, citing the following positive outcomes they hope to achieve:
  • Automating repetitive work (74% of respondents)
  • Making it quicker and easier to find candidates (67%)
  • Making it faster and easier to engage candidates (59%)

 

Onboarding challenges

• A study by Project Brains found that 16% of new employees leave the company within twelve months of joining.
• A Qualtrics survey found that 4 in 10 employees who have been with a company for less than 6 months are planning to leave within a year.

 

Sources

We gathered these facts and figures from a range of reputable sources across the web – you can check them all out below.

• The Access Group – Skills shortage in the UK: what that means for your organisation: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/hr/resources/employee-talent-skills-development-skills-shortage/
• People Management – Firms spend record £6.6bn plugging skills gaps, report finds: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1745013/firms-spend-record-6bn-plugging-skills-gaps
• ICAEW – The UK’s skills gap and what’s gone wrong: https://www.icaew.com/technical/economy/resilience-and-renewal/the-uks-skills-gap-and-whats-gone-wrong
• Recruitment Direct – How to Recruit for Hard-to-fill Positions: https://www.recruitmentdirect.com/blog/blog/how-to-recruit-for-hard-to-fill-positions
• CIPD – Labour market outlook: https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/knowledge/knowledge-hub/reports/2024-pdfs/8614-lmo-spring-report-2024-web.pdf
• Office for National Statistics – Vacancies and jobs in the UK: May 2024: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/jobsandvacanciesintheuk/may2024
• Oleeo – How to Strategically Use your Talent Pool to Overcome Talent Scarcity: https://www.oleeo.com/blog/how-to-strategically-use-your-talent-pool-to-overcome-talent-scarcity
• People Management – Rise in candidate numbers could prompt unsuitable role applications, experts warn: https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1829446/rise-candidate-numbers-prompt-unsuitable-role-applications-experts-warn
• Talent Insight – The cost of recruitment: https://www.talentinsightgroup.co.uk/insights/cost-of-recruitment
• Monster UK – What are the general costs of using recruitment agencies: https://www.monster.co.uk/advertise-a-job/resources/recruiting-strategies/how-to-hire/what-are-the-general-costs-of-using-recruitment-agencies/
• Mintel – UK Recruitment Market Report 2023: https://store.mintel.com/report/uk-recruitment-market-report
• REC – Recruitment industry contributes £43bn to UK economy: https://www.rec.uk.com/our-view/news/press-releases/recruitment-industry-contributes-gbp43bn-uk-economy-latest-rec-industry-report
• REC – Recruitment industry report: https://www.rec.uk.com/our-view/research/recruitment-and-industry-status-report
• Protocol – Do you know the true cost of a bad hire: https://www.protocol.co.uk/articles/do-you-know-the-true-cost-of-a-bad-hire
• Occupop – Cost of a bad hire: https://www.occupop.com/blog/the-true-cost-of-a-bad-hire
• CIPD – Staff turnover data: https://community.cipd.co.uk/cipd-blogs/b/cipd_voice_on/posts/why-staff-turnover-data-matters
• Capacity insights – Average Employee Turnover Rate By Industry: https://capacityinsights.co.uk/news-and-insights/average-employee-turnover-industry/
• Vervoe – Remove unconscious bias to create engaged and diverse teams: https://vervoe.com/solutions/diversity-and-inclusion-software/
• Adecco – AI’s Impact on Your Virtual First Impression: https://www.adecco.com.au/ais-impact-on-your-virtual-first-impression-navigating-video-interviews-with-confidence/
• LinkedIn – How AI Will Change Hiring: https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/how-ai-will-change-hiring
• HR Review – 51% OF NEW HIRES LEAVE OR NEED CLOSE SUPPORT DUE TO MIS-HIRING: https://hrreview.co.uk/hr-news/wellbeing-news/51-of-new-hires-leave-or-need-close-support-due-to-mis-hiring
• HR Brew – New hires are increasingly likely to quit in first year: https://www.hr-brew.com/stories/2023/11/09/new-hires-are-the-most-likely-to-quit