These small employers make up 95% of enterprises in the private sector. According to the REC Jobs Outlook for April, they have a positive short-term hiring intention of 69% this month. This is an increase of 18 percentage points from March and 47 percentage points higher than February.
REC chief executive Kevin Green told HR magazine the figures are "astounding". He added that the size of these employers and the way they recruit, often using word of mouth or local recruitment agencies, means they are not always picked up on national surveys.
Overall, 76% of employers plan to hire more staff in the next quarter, and 81% say they plan to increase headcount within the next 12 months. This is an increase of 22 percentage points from three months ago.
The use of agency staff remains high. Half of the employers surveyed said they expect to increase the use of temporary resources in the next three months, up one percentage point from February. Companies are increasingly using these workers to "respond to growth", with 48% of leaders giving this as the primary reason for hiring them. Only 25% gave that reason in March 2012.
Green said the image of temporary workers as low-skilled does not fit with the current picture.
"A scarcity of skills continues to be an issue in key sectors like IT, engineering and logistics," he said. "Contractors, interim managers and agency workers are becoming more important than ever to help businesses quickly access the skills they need to stay competitive."
