Recruitment Industry 'Census' 2006
Overview
The Recruitment Industry 'Census' 2006 was completed by BMG Research for the Industry Research Unit to provide the first detailed regional and sector level industry profiles and to deliver a much needed sampling frame for future research.
The survey was completed at site level (mostly branches) to ensure timely and accurate data. BMG approached all listed recruitment sites to participate and the results are based on 4,529 completed interviews, making it the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken in the UK.
In the appendix, BMG Research has weighted the data (using ONS and other sources) to provide an overall picture of recruitment across the UK. The weighted data suggests a total of 10,426 separate recruitment firms in the UK with a network of 15,970 sites.
The 68 pages of graphs and text provide new insights into the shape, growth and dynamics of the recruitment industry examining its structure, its coverage of the major sectors and its regional representation.
Regional analysis is based on four broad regions to maximise reliability: North, Midlands, South and London. Some sub-regional analysis is provided within these broader headings.
The survey did not seek to capture financial data. A detailed analysis of industry turnover can be found in the REC's Annual Industry Turnover & Key Volumes Survey.
The Reports profiles each of the regions and sectors and also highlights the main differences between them.
Key Findings
• The majority of recruitment agencies (65%) are single site agencies, that is, they consist of just one office.
• Just over half of all agencies (53%) have between two and five staff.
• Most businesses in the industry are young: 71% are ten years old or less and roughly 28% are up to three years old. Again, there are regional differences, some of which may seem surprising. On average, recruitment firms in the North are younger than those in London or the South.
• There are interesting sector differences. Some sectors such as secretarial/clerical and professional/managerial are covered by around a third of agencies, while the customer service, accounting/financial and industrial/blue collar sectors are covered by around a quarter of agencies.
• The survey shows that 37% of agencies have between 11 and 40 employed temporary workers out on assignment at the time of the 'Census'.
• The number of permanent placements that agencies make in a year varies enormously according to size, sector and even region. On average, 51% of agencies have made between one and 40 placements in the previous year.
• The majority of agencies tend to cover temporary and permanent business. This is especially true in the secretarial/clerical sector where 85% of agencies recruit for both temporary and permanent jobs.
• Looking at the industry from a regional perspective, there are a multiplicity of differences. In London, for example, agencies tend to have larger than average volumes of registered workers, and they tend to focus on fewer business sectors. In the Midlands, there are a higher than average number of agencies recruiting for drivers and for industrial/blue collar staff. In the North, there are fewer single site agencies than elsewhere in the UK, and they also tend to be fairly new compared with agencies in the rest of the UK. Meanwhile a feature of agencies in the South is that they are more likely to be recruiting for computing/IT professionals or sales/retail staff than is the case elsewhere.
The full 2006 'Census' Report shows the diversity of the recruitment industry and, for the first time, allows an understanding of some of its pervasive characteristics.
