Manpower Group said the survey showed “vital warning signs that the United Kingdom jobs market could be in for a rough ride”.
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Mark Cahill, managing director said: “After the initial shock of Brexit, we’re entering a new phase of prolonged economic uncertainty. As UK businesses are reliant on European talent to help fill the skills gap, we urge the government to prioritise maintaining the free movement of people across the EU during its negotiations”, he said.
The survey, carried out in the weeks after the referendum, showed that while United Kingdom job prospects up, the outlook has dimmed somewhat.
“While the news is encouraging, we believe it has no bearing on the cloudy longer-term outlook for the United Kingdom economy”.
Manpower Employment is out with its latest Outlook Survey and it finds 12 per cent of employers plan to hire for the final three months of the year, while only three per cent expect to cut jobs.
“The Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, along with other recent geopolitical events, has added an additional level of volatility – real or perceived – to the global economic outlook”, Jonas Prising, Chairman & CEO, ManpowerGroup, said.
The survey states that employer hiring confidence remains strong despite uncertainty associated with the slowdown of the global economy, the Brexit vote and continued financial market volatility.
The study also found that job prospects in the public sector had fallen to the weakest level in four years.
But economists warned the data may not reflect the full extent of any post-Brexit fall in hiring.
With seasonal variations removed from the data, the net employment outlook is 11 per cent, Manpower says.
However, quarter-over-quarter, hiring intentions weaken in five of the seven industry sectors, with the highest decline of 10 percentage points being reported by employers in the transportation and utilities sector.
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However, Mr Cahill added: “People are still spending, meaning retail job prospects remain positive for United Kingdom workers, but this looks like a short-term feel good factor that may fall away after the busy summer period and ramp-up to Black Friday”. The survey is used as a key economic statistic by both the Bank of England and the UK Government.
