UK vacancies tumble to lowest level in over four years

The November decline marked the 13th consecutive month of falling staff numbers following a "severe drop in demand […] for permanent workers", according to the survey. As a result, the vacancies index declined to 43.9 last month from 46.1 in October. Jon Holt, group chief executive and UK senior partner at KPMG, noted that businesses are currently looking at the "prospect of increasing employee costs following the Budget", which has prompted a slowdown in hiring processes across boards. "While the data was already heading in that direction, permanent placements saw their steepest r...