Recruitment boss Kevin Green warns of UK job crisis: 'Staff availability falling for 2 years'

The chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation has urged the new government to tackle Britain's "looming jobs crisis".

Kevin Green has warned the UK faces a skills shortage after a report, published by REC and accountancy giant KPMG, showed that the number of people securing permanent jobs reached an eight month high in April.

He said: "For the last two and a half years we've seen month on month increases in the amount of people getting permanent roles. However, we question how sustainable this jobs boom is as skill and talent shortages become rife. The availability of staff has been falling for two years, with 40% of recruiters saying that the situation is getting worse month on month. We urge the new government, whatever its complexion, to start to tackle the UK's looming jobs crisis."

To address the issue, Green called for improvements in vocational education and a "sensible approach to immigration" to help businesses find the skills they need to "compete and win".

The report also revealed that as the availability of qualified staff to fill permanent roles has deteriorated, pay has been driven up.

KPMG partner Bernard Brown said: "The declining pool of available labour continues to force pay up. With two in five recruiters in the UK reporting falling candidate availability, spiralling salary growth remains a concern as businesses bid against each other to secure skilled staff."

Salaries accelerated to a nine-month high in April and hourly rates of pay for temporary and contract staff increased at the fastest pace since July 2007, according to the report.

Demand for executives is also on the rise, with Brown adding: "There has been a resurgence of recruitment into Britain's boardrooms, with businesses poaching top talent to drive their companies forward. This surge of executive hires is a strong indication of underlying business sentiment and their ambitions for the future."

In a reversal of the trend seen in recent months, London saw the sharpest growth of overall jobs growth, while the slowest expansion was seen in the Midlands.

Private sector demand for staff continued to rise at a stronger pace than that for public sector workers and the most in-demand workers were executives, accountants and financial employees.

Hotel and catering sectors saw the slowest growth.