More bosses look to hire new staff

AN increasing number of employers expect to hire staff in the coming months despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis and its impact on the economy, a new study suggests.

Firms were feeling more confident about recruitment at the end of last year, said the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

Its survey of 600 employers showed an increase in plans to hire permanent staff and temporary agency workers, both in the short and medium term.

REC said this rising optimism towards hiring is in stark contrast to employers’ confidence in the wider economy, which has fallen. The news comes as more than one in eight UK workers were furloughed at the end of December, new figures show, as nearly £6 billion was claimed in the last two months of the year.

Government figures show that 13% of employments across the country were furloughed on December 31, and that more than one in three employers were claiming money to pay their staff as part of the scheme.

Figures fell slightly from November, when just over £3 billion was claimed, to December, when a little under £3 billion was claimed, but remained higher than they were in October.