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Demand for permanent and temporary staff in Britain is rising despite ongoing economic uncertainty Reuters

UK businesses hired permanent staff at the fastest pace in eight months in October, suggesting that the jobs market has weathered the initial shock of the Brexit vote.

A survey of 400 recruitment firms by IHS Markit and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) also showed that starting salaries for permanent jobs rose at the fastest rate in five months.

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However, there was considerable regional variance in hiring, with the North seeing the quickest increase in permanent placements, while London and Scotland registered slower hiring compared to September.

The survey also revealed that overall demand for both permanent and temporary staff was at the highest level since before the EU referendum in June.

"Despite ongoing uncertainty the UK jobs market is thriving again in most areas of the UK," REC chief executive Kevin Green said.

"Job vacancies are back to levels not seen since April, and for the third consecutive month recruiters have reported an increase in the amount of people finding permanent jobs."

Recruitment firms reported a further drop in the availability of permanent candidates in October, while the availability of temporary staff fell at the slowest pace in four months.

Green added: "This is a great place to be but there are real threats coming over the hill.

"Candidate availability has been falling for three and a half years. There are more vacancies that there are people to fill them in many sectors, including engineering, construction and healthcare.

"The government urgently needs to outline a strategy to address employability skills within UK education and promote apprenticeships and other routes into work.

"We also need immigration policies that reflect immediate labour market needs. Imposing new restrictions on people coming from abroad to fill vacancies will impact businesses' ability to meet demand as well as the delivery of public services."

Demand for permanent staff rose in all sectors in October, led by engineering and IT & computing.

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