A survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has revealed that half of employers in the UK believe that they will struggle to find the permanent members of staff that they need.
600 employers were polled between February and April of this year, and 50% said that they were worried about the staff they need being available – this is up by 8% for the same time last year.
While the same companies were optimistic about the growing economy, they felt the staff they needed would not be in the market for them.
This will of course be a boost to wage growth as it moves towards an employees market rather than employer market, with fewer and fewer candidates being suitable for a growing number of roles.
Despite many blaming the Brexit vote for many leaving the workforce, strong employment growth has been a bright spot of the UK economy over the last couple of years since the 2016 referendum, but wage growth has yet to pick up sharply alongside it.
Ongoing changes in the contractor market are also likely to be contributing to the change in workforce and many employers feeling they cannot attract staff without big salaries.
Only time will tell how the trend continues.