Professional recruitment market stabilising

Recruitment across the professional recruitment sector is showing signs of stabilising, according to the latest Hiring Trends report from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).



The trade association’s latest analysis – produced in conjunction with Bullhorn – revealed little movement in the number of new jobs added between May and June, remaining static for contract and falling less than 1% for permanent. This suggests that the previously noted sharp decline in hiring activity has plateaued.



Encouragingly, the number of new permanent roles added in June 2025 was up 3% on June 2024, while contract fell 16% in this time frame. The data also revealed that the uptick in recruitment noted in APSCo’s previous report translated into positive placement figures, which were up 16% and 11% year-on-year consecutively for contract and permanent in June 2025.



Samantha Hurley, UK Managing Director at APSCo commented:



“While monthly vacancy trends remain stable, they haven’t fallen at a rate we would expect to see at the start of the summer months, which gives us cause for optimism following a sustained period of more notable decline. It’s also promising to see some signs of growth year-on-year, though the next few months will be telling as to the direction of travel for the rest of 2025.”



Andy Ingham, SVP Sales, EMEA & APAC at Bullhorn, added:



"The second quarter ended on a positive note with job openings holding steady across permanent and contract roles, and all placements increasing by 9.6% during the month of June. This uptick shows a return to pre-pandemic activity levels, avoiding a seasonal dip in both vacancies and placements during the past two summers."







Press contact

Vickie Collinge

vickie@bluesky-pr.com

01582 790 705

About APSCo

The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) is the trade association for the professional recruitment market. APSCo Global comprises APSCo South East Asia, APSCo Australia, APSCo Deutschland and APSCo United Kingdom as well as APSCo OutSource, the trade body for the RPO and MSP sectors.

Find out more: www.apscouk.org