{"id":2107277,"date":"2026-02-17T08:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/?p=2107277"},"modified":"2026-02-17T08:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:37:15","slug":"gi-group-grows-as-uk-payroll-numbers-slide-by-184000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2107277-gi-group-grows-as-uk-payroll-numbers-slide-by-184000","title":{"rendered":"Gi Group grows as UK payroll numbers slide by 184,000"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"133\" data-end=\"314\">Recruitment firm <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Gi Group<\/span><\/span> has reported a return to growth in the final quarter of 2025, despite continued contraction across the wider UK labour market.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"316\" data-end=\"466\">The business posted 5% growth in Q4 and said December delivered double-digit growth, driven by demand in manufacturing, logistics and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"468\" data-end=\"808\">The performance comes against a backdrop of falling payroll employment. According to the <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Office for National Statistics<\/span><\/span>, the number of payrolled employees dropped by 135,000 year-on-year and by 43,000 in the three months to November 2025. Early estimates point to a further 184,000 fall in December, taking the total to 30.2 million.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"810\" data-end=\"1010\">Vacancies rose by 10,000 between October and December, suggesting the pace of decline may be easing, but the employment rate for September to November stood at 75.1% and unemployment remained at 5.1%.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1012\" data-end=\"1170\">Paulo Canoa, chief regional officer for Gi Group UK &amp; Ireland, said the company\u2019s growth reflects a strategic shift rather than improving market fundamentals.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1172\" data-end=\"1412\">\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the benefits of our long-term strategy to evolve into a genuine, practical partner to our clients,\u201d he said. \u201cBy offering integrated, tailored solutions we\u2019ve managed to gain market share even as the overall market contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1414\" data-end=\"1475\">Canoa acknowledged the broader weakness in hiring conditions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1477\" data-end=\"1808\">\u201cThere\u2019s no denying the labour market in the UK remains fragile. Employers are being extremely cautious about hiring, and the gap between the roles on offer and the profiles available continues to create friction. However, we\u2019re seeing glimmers of stability. Confidence in the market hasn\u2019t totally collapsed, it\u2019s just tentative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1810\" data-end=\"2001\">Gi Group said its Q4 performance was underpinned by deeper relationships with existing clients and an expanded service offer spanning workforce planning, compliance and labour market insight.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2003\" data-end=\"2147\">Looking ahead, Canoa said he expects trading conditions to remain tough through the first half of 2026, with some improvement later in the year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2149\" data-end=\"2377\">\u201cWhile the first half of 2026 is likely to remain challenging, I expect the second half to show improvement. Seasonal demands will once again play a role \u2013 but I think this year they could spike even more than in previous years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2379\" data-end=\"2498\">\u201cI also think the decline of job vacancies will slowdown into an eventual plateau, giving some semblance of stability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2500\" data-end=\"2627\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Headquartered in Chesterfield, Gi Group UK employs close to 500 people across 17 hub locations and is part of Gi Group Holding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recruiter claims market share gains despite fragile hiring environment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":2107196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127684],"coauthors":[95],"class_list":["post-2107277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recruitment","tag-derbyshire","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gi Group grows as UK payroll numbers slide by 184,000 | TheBusinessDesk.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recruiter claims market share gains despite fragile hiring environment\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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