Recruitment within the UK business travel sector fell sharply in September as part of a drop in overall placements across the wider travel industry, according to a recruitment specialist.
C&M Travel Recruitment said that September was a “slower month” for business travel candidates finding new jobs with a 43 per cent fall compared to August’s figures.
This drop was part of an industry-wide fall in placements of 13 per cent between August and September. Overall job placements were also at their lowest level of 2023 and down by 59 per cent compared with September 2022.
The total number of new travel jobs becoming available similarly fell back to the lowest point in five months – down by 45 per cent from August to September; it was also a drop of 53 per cent on this time last year.
The fall in placements and new jobs comes as the number of new candidates rose by three per cent between September and August, although it was 12 per cent lower than in September 2022.
Barbara Kolosinska, C&M’s managing director, said: “Travel recruitment activity remains slower than we would traditionally expect at this time of year, but that also means there are fantastic opportunities for employers to access a wider talent pool by advertising their upcoming vacancies immediately.
“It's always positive to see a rise in the number of people looking to work in the travel industry. Salaries are up by around 13 per cent so far this year and it's vitally important that we promote the perks of working in travel and continue to do all we can to encourage candidates to join our industry.”
A shortage of staff has been one of the major issues for the corporate travel industry as it emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic but these figures may suggest that this situation is finally easing.