Statistics Online recruitment news

Stability emerging… but confidence still fragile

Hogan Assessments research reveals a striking disconnect between the characteristics executives display and the qualities employees say define effective leadership, with zero overlap between the top five competencies leaders demonstrate and the top five characteristics employees want.

New research from CV-Library one of the UK’s largest job sites, confirms what jobseekers have felt for a long time: businesses admit that quality candidates are being overlooked or filtered out due to a growing reliance on AI in the hiring process.

New study reveals nearly half of candidates use AI in applications, but concerns over transparency and human oversight could impact trust in automated hiring

A new survey of 500 senior decision-makers within UK businesses, commissioned by Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), has found:

A new survey of 500 senior decision-makers within UK businesses, commissioned by Studio Graphene, has found:

Business hiring confidence showed a strong increase in the first three months of 2026, with the number of job vacancies advertised up 7.6% compared to the same period in 2025 according to the latest Labour Market Insight report from CV-Library, one of the UK’s largest job sites.

The quarterly confidence Index has increased to 96.8, up from 93.6 in Q4 2025, marking a modest but meaningful step up in sentiment.

Leading National Law Firm Freeths has unveiled the findings of its 2026 Employment Survey, providing a data driven snapshot of the evolving HR landscape and the strategic priorities shaping UK workplaces for the year ahead.

As a number of key reforms come into place from April 6, as part of the Employment Rights Act 2025, Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, comments:

Entry-level pay rose by 12.9% in 2024, nearly double the increase of mid-tier roles, as sustained NLW rises compress pay differentials, Brightmine analysis shows

National minimum wage (NMW) changes are leading almost a third of UK businesses to reduce entry level roles with half looking to recruit experienced hires instead, RSM UK Workforce survey shows.

Employer confidence recovered in the first quarter of this year, before the onset of the Gulf conflict. That is according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s latest JobsOutlook, a survey of over 700 businesses across the country. The findings show that businesses, while facing headwinds from rising costs, were more ready to invest at the beginning of 2026 than in the previous year.

The more than 1.5 million active job postings in February 2026 were up on the previous month, according to the latest Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) Labour Market Tracker.

Signs of stabilisation, but new economic pressures remain