Staffing market shows signs of recovery as hiring lifts in July

The professional staffing market is showing renewed momentum, with contract and permanent hiring activity rising month-on-month, according to the latest Hiring Trends report from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).

Based on data provided by Bullhorn, the report shows contract vacancies rose 10% between June and July, with permanent roles up 8%.

CV submissions increased 13% for contract and 8% for permanent roles, while placements rose by 2% across both areas.

While APSCo notes that the increases align with typical seasonal trends ahead of the August slowdown, the uplift is a positive sign for a market that has seen prolonged subdued activity.

Samantha Hurley, UK managing director at APSCo, said: “While it’s common to see a slight increase in recruitment between June and July, ahead of August’s seasonal blip, this uptick is promising given the tough year that the staffing market has faced so far.

“There remains a slightly higher demand for contract resources over permanent, which is expected when the economic climate is still uncertain.

“However, the gap is decreasing, giving us and our members some promising indicators that the tide is starting to turn.”

Andy Ingham, SVP sales, EMEA & APAC at Bullhorn, noted the underlying strength of July’s performance: “July exhibited strong momentum, with most metrics on the up month over month. Only sales are down from June, but are still showing positive trends compared to July ’24.

“Pipeline continues to grow from the promising foundation last month, paired with a surge of delivery activity in the form of a 13% and 8% monthly boost in CV sends for contract and perm respectively after a slight lull in June.

“Placements had a modest lift, both up around 2.5%, indicating good client commitment and high throughput on key vacancies, despite June’s delivery slump.”

Hannah Goldstraw, senior consultant at Barrow Mount Recruitment, added: “We’re definitely seeing that shift in our own work, particularly in financial services and HR, where both interim and permanent briefs are coming through more steadily.

“Clients still want to move carefully, but they’re starting to make decisions again – and that’s the first sign of real confidence returning.”