The latest KPMG REC jobs report for January shows a sharp fall in the number of employers hiring staff, with vacancies falling at the steepest rate since the height of job losses during the pandemic in August 2020.

No sector was safe from the aftershocks of the Budget, with each one seeing sharp drops in vacancies across both permanent and temporary positions in January. The number of permanent positions available was slightly better last month, but temporary positions fell rapidly in January.

The accounting and financial sector vacancies were down to 44 on the permanent vacancies index for permanent positions, while temporary positions fell to 41.