British recruiters warn on tough hiring market conditions

British recruiters warned of tough hiring market conditions in the near-term as workers avoid switching jobs and employers take longer to fill vacant positions due to economic and political uncertainties exacerbated by elections in Britain and France.

Robert Walters (RWA.L) this week joined bigger peers PageGroup (PAGE.L) and Hays (HAYS.L) in reporting a fall in net fees for the three months ended June 30, hurt partly by UK and France elections.

Higher interest rates and inflationary pressures have also weighed on recruitment companies leading to layoffs or hiring freezes.

“Our near-term planning now assumes that any material improvement in confidence levels will be gradual, and likely not occur before 2025,” Robert Walters CEO Toby Fowlston said.

Fowlston told Reuters that the elections had an impact in both markets, but especially in the British public sector where recruitments had slowed over the last three months.

Shares in the London-headquartered company dropped as much as 6 per cent in morning trade before paring some losses to trade 3 per cent lower at 370 pence apiece as of 0801 GMT.

PageGroup stock fell 2.4 per cent while Hays was marginally down 0.8 per cent.

Hays forecast on Thursday annual profit below market expectations after its June net fee was dented by British and French elections.

Peer PageGroup had warned a day earlier that it expected its full-year profits to nearly halve on concerns that France’s political uncertainty was making recruitment activity even more difficult.

“Coming back after that (election) weekend, we had a number of clients contact us… candidates either wanting to pull out of processes to wait to see what happened, or clients putting interviews on pause and recruitment on pause,” PageGroup CEO Nicholas Kirk said.

Robert Walters said that the slowdown in France would continue in the near-term.

Total net fee income for Robert Walters fell 12 per cent at constant currency for the three months ending on June 30. Net fee income in Britain fell 18 per cent year-on-year and dropped 20 per cent in France.