Recruitment Agencies (Permanent)
UK Market Report 2011
Market Research Report

Recruitment Agencies (Permanent) UK Market Report 2011 Market Research Report

This report looks at the market for the permanent appointments sector of the recruitment market. It covers firms that are engaged in general permanent appointments, as well as executive permanent appointments.

The recession and the proceeding disappointingly slow recovery have had a devastating effect on the recruitment industry. Demand for recruitment services, especially in the permanent appointments sector of the market, has plummeted since the spring of 2008. The value of the market is now less than half of what it was in 2006. In the year to March 2010, the value of the market was £1.89bn, representing a fall of 27.6% on 2009 figures and the number of placements was 436,822, a 25% drop on the previous 12 months. A large number of recruitment firms have gone into administration or liquidation as a result of the difficult market conditions which are currently being experienced in the UK.

In 2010, public sector recruitment reduced sharply, which impacted on the industry, especially in the second half of the year. Industry sources say that the private sector created several hundred thousand jobs during 2010, but it is not clear what the real benefit has been to the recruitment industry, since a proportion of these jobs will have been filled without employing the services of recruitment firms. Despite this, the recruitment industry is optimistic about business in 2011.

Given the state of the market and the difficulty of raising extra finance there appears to have been fewer mergers and acquisition within the industry in 2010, compared to 2009. However, the industry has been subject to a high level of restructure and re-focusing of business strategy among the major firms. Another trend, which is likely to become more evident in 2011, is the expansion of the few dominant recruitment companies into higher growth markets such as Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Meanwhile, the process of recruitment is changing. Although recruitment firms are still widely used by UK organisations, they face increasing competition from clients' own websites and from clients' own networks, such as social media sites.

Technology is becoming much more important to the industry. For example, more advanced candidate application systems, more sophisticated management information systems and cloud computing are all seeing higher levels of usage from recruitment agencies.

Key Note is forecasting that the market's value will rise by 3.7% in the year to March 2011 and will experience strong growth thereafter. In spite of this, market value is unlikely to return to its 2009 level of £2.61bn before 2015.

• Foreword
  • Executive Summary
  • Market Definition
• Report Coverage
• Market Sectors
• Market Trends
  • A Shrinking Market
  • Reduction in Salary Expectations
  • Many Job Vacancies Remain Unfilled
  • Weak Profitability
  • Recruitment Firms Losing Market Value
  • in-House Recruitment Growing
• Economic Trends
  • Population
  • Gross Domestic Product
  • Inflation
  • Unemployment
• Market Position
  • Market Size
• The Total Market
  • by Value
  • by Volume
• by Market Sector
  • Secretarial/Clerical
  • Computing/IT
  • Hotel and Catering
  • Education
  • Nursing/Medical
  • Accounting and Financial
  • Technical and Engineering
  • Professional and Managerial
  • Drivers
  • Industrial/Blue Collar
  • Construction
  • Recruitment-to-Recruitment
  • Industry Background
• Recent History
• Number of Companies
• Employment
• Regional Variations in The Marketplace
  • How Robust Is The Market?
• Legislation
• Key Trade Associations
  • Recruitment and Employment Confederation
  • Association of Professional Staffing Companies
  • The Association of Executive Search Consultants
  • Competitor Analysis
• The Marketplace
  • General Permanent Recruitment
  • Executive Recruitment
• Market Leaders
  • Adecco UK Ltd
  • Alexander Mann Solutions Ltd
  • Hays Plc
  • Impellam Group Plc
  • Matchtech Group Plc
  • Michael Page International Plc
  • Nes Holdings Ltd
  • Robert Walters Plc
  • Rullion Ltd
  • Sthree Plc
• Advertising and Promotion
  • Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats
  • Buying Behaviour
• Trends in The Recruitment Industry
  • Current Issues
• Market Conditions
• Executive Search
• Corporate Activity
• Recruitment and Retention Trends
  • Who Will Benefit from Social Media?
  • The Global Market
• Major Markets
  • Forecasts
• Introduction
• Forecasts to
• Future Trends
  • Company Profiles
• Introduction
• Definitions
  • Turnover (Sales)
  • Pre-Tax Profit
  • Profit Margin
  • Average Remuneration
  • Sales per Employee
• Further Information
• Adecco UK Ltd
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Alexander Mann Solutions Ltd
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Hays Plc
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Impellam Group Plc
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Matchtech Group Plc
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Michael Page International Plc
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Nes Holdings Ltd
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Robert Walters Plc
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Rullion Ltd
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
• Sthree Plc
  • Previous Name(S) and Date(S) of Change
  • Principal Activities
  • Sic Codes
  • Structure
  • Recent Developments
• Financial Profile
  • Sales
  • Profits
  • Employees
  • Balance Sheet/Ratios
  • Further Sources
  • Associations
  • Publications
  • General Sources
  • Government Publications
  • Other Sources
  • Key Note Sources
  • Key Note Ltd
  • Understanding Tgi Data
  • Number, Profile, Penetration
  • Social Grade
  • Standard Region
  • Key Note Research
  • The Key Note Range of Reports