RECRUITER Page Group has said that workers are becoming more reluctant to accept jobs because potential employers are taking longer to make decisions due to the economic climate.
The business reported on Monday that it is on track to meet expectations, but that the market had become more challenging in the last half year.
Revenue, it said, increased 5.8 per cent to just over £1 billion in the six months to the end of June. But pre-tax profit was down nearly 45 per cent to £63.3 million.
Page said that there had been "some reluctance to accept offers" among the people on its books.
"The challenging conditions we saw towards the end of 2022 continued into the first half of 2023, with lower levels of both candidate and client confidence resulting in delays in decision making and candidates being more reluctant to accept offers," said chief executive Nicholas Kirk.
"Reflecting the uncertain macro-economic conditions, temporary recruitment outperformed permanent, as clients sought more flexible options."
The group said that gross profit from its permanent hires had reduced 7.1 per cent to £392.2 million, but the temporary part of the business saw a 15.3 per cent rise to £134.6 million.
Gross profit in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) areas - which makes up 55 per cent of Page Group's total - was up 8.1 per cent. The company saw worse performances in the Americas (down 5.5 per cent), Asia-Pacific (down 18.3 per cent) and the UK (down 13.2 per cent).
"Looking forward, there remains a high level of global macro-economic and political uncertainty in the majority of our markets," Mr Kirk said.
"However, against this backdrop, we continue to see candidate shortages and good levels of vacancies, as well as continued high fee rates.
"We are also seeing the benefits from our investments in innovation and technology, where Customer Connect is supporting productivity and enhancing customer experience and Page Insights is providing real time data to inform business decisions."
