The United States labour market remained relatively stagnant in 2011, with the unemployment rate around 9% for the majority of the year. Although the year began slowly in terms of recruitment, we experienced increased levels of activity in quarter two. However, increased uncertainty in the market led to reduced hiring levels and limited salary growth during the second half of the year. Many companies were reluctant to create new positions and the majority of roles released to the market were predominantly replacement hires for critical positions.
However, it is important to note that when recruitment activity did increase during the second quarter, it was apparent that many high quality candidates were more receptive to switching jobs than at any point for several years. This clearly demonstrated just how quickly the recruitment market can recover with a favourable change in economic conditions.
In terms of an outlook, we remain optimistic that business spending and hiring will increase in 2012 and that job volumes will also rise. However, this anticipated slight improvement in labour market conditions is unlikely to impact salary levels initially and we expect these to remain stable for the foreseeable future.