Recruitment Statistics - April 2025
Job Flow Index
The Firefish Job Flow Index allows you to explore recruitment statistics drawn from over 750 recruitment agencies.
Recruitment Overview
Following a buoyant Q1, April has seen economic turbulence and legislative changes that has increased pressure on businesses. According to the Office for National Statistics, 65% of businesses expressed some form of concern for their business heading into May, citing economic uncertainty. Coupled with increased labour costs, as a result of new National Insurance Contribution legislation, some hesitancy to hire should be expected to have impacted job flow data in April. Given these wide-ranging pressures, however, the job demand and placement volumes have remained relatively resilient.
In April:
- Permanent placements decreased by 5%.
- Temporary & contract placements decreased by 10%.
- The total volume of placements decreased by 7%.
- The total volume of jobs created decreased by 4%.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the changes to NICs, the biggest sector growth was seen in permanent finance and accountancy placements, which increased by 68%.
Temp & contract placements in the technology sector also performed well, increasing by 40%.
Overall, Q2 has started with a decline in job demand and placements made. However, despite a 7% decrease in job demand YOY, placements in April 2025 were 3% higher than in April 2024.
The monthly Job Flow Index analyses recruitment statistics and industry trends to provide recruitment agency leaders with insight into market conditions.
Placements by sector
Permanent placements in the professional services sector decreased by 11% in April.
Temp & contract placements in the professional services sector decreased by 50% in April.
Professional Services
Finance & Accountancy
Permanent placements in the finance and accountancy sector increased by 68% in April.
Temporary & contract placements in this sector decreased by 21% in April.
Technology
Permanent placements in the technology sector decreased by 7% in April.
Temporary & contract placements in the technology sector increased by 40% in April.
Jobs created and number of placements
The number of jobs created decreased by 4% in April.
The total number of placements made decreased by 7%.
The number of permanent jobs created in April decreased by 8%.
There was a 5% increase in the number of permanent placements made in April.
The were 5% more perm placements made in April 2025 than in April 2024.
The number of temp & contract jobs created did not change between March and April. There was a 10% decrease in the number of temp & contract placements made in April.
The total number of temp & contract placements made in April 2025 was 3% higher than in April 2024.
Permanent
Temp & Contract
Placements
Explore monthly recruitment statistics including agency placement trends. Compare jobs created to placements made and explore performance by sector.
Construction, Trades & Labour
Permanent placements in the construction, trades & labour sector decreased by 11% in April.
Temporary & contract placements in the construction, trades & labour sector decreased by 2% in April.
Engineering, Manufacturing, FMCG & Warehousing
Permanent placements in the manufacturing, engineering, FMCG & warehousing sector increased by 15% in April.
Temporary & contract placements in this sector decreased by 8% in April.
Sales & Digital Marketing
Permanent placements in the sales & digital marketing sector decreased by 12% in April.
Temporary and contract placements in sales & digital marketing decreased by 15% in April.
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Recruitment Marketing Statistics
Explore monthly recruitment agency marketing trends. Discover how different recruitment marketing strategies are performing.
Application Source
The source of applications for your agency's job is a good indicator of the strength of your agency's brand presence and candidate loyalty.
In April 35% of applications were made by existing candidates.
In April there was a 10% decrease in the total number of applications.
Job Adverts
This chart shows the number of new job adverts posted each month across all sectors and platforms. Multiple adverts can be posted per job, but this data indicates the volume of active adverts per month.
The number of job adverts posted decreased by 9% in April.
The number of quality applications per job remained steady at 6 in April.
Quality Applications Per Job
Applications from re-engaged candidates
70% of applications from re-engaged candidates were generated by Job Alerts in April.
Candidate applications from web sources
45% of applications from web sources were generated by Job Boards in April.
Rob Samuel
IT Manager, IntaPeople
Spec CVs Sent
The sending of speculative CVs (when there is no formal role available) can indicate market confidence and business development activity. There is a clear correlation between Spec CV activity and the number of jobs created in any given month.
There was a 5% decrease in the number of spec CVs sent in April.
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