THE number of people placed in permanent jobs has fallen again in Scotland as employers delay making hiring decisions amid the uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote, while pay rates continued to lag behind the rest of the UK.

The latest Scottish Report on Jobs for Scotland, published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) today, found that permanent job placings by recruitment agencies dropped for a second successive month.

And it pointed to a further fall in November in billings received by firms for filling temporary roles.

The report, conducted by research analyst Markit, highlighted that permanent placings in Scotland fell as the UK saw its steepest rise in permanent appointments since February.

While the rate of decline was slower than in October, it was the fourth time since June that a reduction has been recorded.

Kate Shoesmith, head of policy at the REC, noted that employer confidence had “taken a bit of a knock” in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum, with the after-effects continuing to be felt.

“They were not necessarily not seeking to hire people, but they were taking longer to hire people,” she said. Referring to today’s report, she added: “Although you’ve got a decline in the rate of people being put into permanent job appointments, the demand is still there.

“The demand for people in permanent jobs is higher than [in] the previous month.”

According to the report’s permanent placements index, where a score of 50 signals no change in the market, a seasonally-adjusted reading of 49.1 was recorded for Scotland in November, compared with 55.5 for the UK.

As well as taking longer to fill permanent roles, Ms Shoesmith pointed to critical skills shortages in Scotland, chiefly in the nursing, medical and care sector. That sector saw the highest demand for permanent roles from employers in November, the report found, followed by engineering and construction. “It’s really hard to find those candidates with the right skill set,” Ms Shoesmith said.

She added: “Just like how employers are feeling like they need to take their time over decisions, to see what see what happens over the Brexit negotiations, or other economic factors, people who are looking to move job will also take their time.”

Asked whether the REC backed the continued free movement of labour from the EU into the UK following Brexit, Ms Shoesmith said: “We’ve obviously got a number of EU nationals in the British workforce already. We need absolute clarity over what happens to those people right now, and what will happen after the negotiations are concluded. Many businesses across the board, whether it is highly professional accountancy firms or those working in the industrial sector, work with EU nationals, and they are a really important part of their workforce.

“Because we have these growing skills shortages, we would like to ensure that businesses can still bring in the talent and the people they need.”

Ms Shoesmith added: “We’re nearing full employment as an economy. How are we going to cope with this going forward? There is going to have to be a sense of bringing people in to fulfil some of these jobs, in the short term at least.”

The report, meanwhile, found that pay rates north of the Border continued to lag the UK average.

It signalled there was a rise in average salaries for people starting permanent jobs in November, which it said was linked partly to poor availability of suitable candidates. And it found that rate at which salaries grew in Scotland last month was faster than in October.

However permanent salary inflation at UK level continued to rebound from July’s three-year low to reach its highest reading since May.