Employers will continue to grow their permanent staff numbers and the number of employers planning to increase their use of temporary workers has risen. But in response to this month's survey, there was also an increase in the number of employers saying they intend to reduce their use of temporary staff - illustrating the fragility of employer confidence across the UK.
The decline in confidence witnessed in last month's report continues in June with the REC's barometer of employer confidence dipping a further two points to reach the level last recorded in June 2011.
JobsOutlook's survey of employers found 63% planned to increase the number of permanent employees over the next three months (compared to 66% in May) and 60% expect to increase permanent hires over the next 3-12 month period (compared to 63% last month).
Just under a third (31%) plan to increase agency worker numbers in the next quarter with 22% saying they intend to decrease their use of agency workers.
And a quarter (24%) say they think the Olympics will be good for their business.
REC's director of research Roger Tweedy said: "There is a sense of hesitancy out there as employers are buffeted with bad news from the continent and are staring at official growth figures that seem to be stuck. But there are still reasons to be positive. Consumer confidence is rising slowly, and the impact of that should filter through to businesses in a few months. Barring any terrible shocks from the eurozone and with the potential of a boost to business from the Olympics we could still be on track for slow improvements in job creation as time progresses."
