{"slug": "specialist-tech-recruiter-sees-hiring-slump-across-uk-and-europe", "title": "Specialist tech recruiter sees hiring slump across UK and Europe", "summary": "Specialist tech recruiter SThree reported a 19% drop in net fees across the UK in the first half of the year, reflecting a broader hiring slump in the region. The decline was driven by companies pausing hiring and cutting headcounts amid cost pressures, while the US and Japan bucked the trend with growth.", "body_md": "# Specialist tech recruiter sees hiring slump across UK and Europe\n\nA specialist recruiter in science, technology and maths has posted a slump across its UK operations as the [hiring market](https://www.cityam.com/ai-is-not-killing-all-these-jobs-linkedin-boss-on-uk-hiring-slump/) continues to cool.\n\nWorkforce consultant SThree recorded a 19 per cent drop in net fees across the UK, which refer to costs paid by an [employer](https://www.cityam.com/bbc-news-faces-hundreds-of-job-cuts-in-major-downsizing-drive/) to fill a vacancy.\n\nTotal takings in the UK – which is one of the lower performers in its top five countries – fell to £11.6m in the first half of the year, down from £14.2m in the same period last year.\n\nThe figures come amid a tough economic backdrop for the jobs market in the UK, with companies hitting pause on hiring and in some cases trimming headcounts amid mounting cost pressures.\n\nAccountancy firm BDO’s employment index hit a 15 year low in March as firms remained cautious over cost pressures.\n\nThe government has hoped to pump a wave of new tech jobs into the economy after currying favour with AI giants. At London Tech Week earlier this month, tech secretary Liz Kendal hailed around [8,000 new jobs](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-powers-ahead-on-ai-with-billions-of-pounds-of-new-investment-and-thousands-of-jobs-secured-as-london-tech-week-wraps-up) to be created from the £6bn in investment garnered.\n\nBusiness secretary Peter Kyle has also[ laid out plans to reimburse visa fees](https://www.cityam.com/britain-to-offer-visa-refunds-to-woo-tech-scale-ups/) for high-growth firms in a bid to lure overseas talent to the UK to grow operations.\n\n## US and Japan buck trend\n\nThe rest of SThree’s operations in continental Europe fell in line with the UK trend with Germany dropping 14 per cent to £42.3m and Netherlands 24 per cent to £22.5m.\n\nThe two make up SThree’s three largest markets along with the United States.\n\nIn Germany, weak performance was attributed to soft demand for technology roles, the nation’s biggest skills vertical. In the Netherlands, weak demand came in both engineering and technology.\n\nBut strong [US demand](https://www.cityam.com/weve-got-lots-of-things-going-for-us-america-doesnt-sadiq-khan-on-competing-with-silicon-valley/) managed to offset some of this performance, meaning group net fees suffered just a seven per cent loss.\n\nThe US’ fees growth was up 12 per cent to just shy of £42m after demand for tech skills.\n\nJapan was also a standout performer with fees growing 36 per cent to £6.7m\n\nTimo Lehne, chief executive of SThree, pointed to trading momentum having “improved” by the second quarter. At a group level, fees declined to six per cent from eight per cent in the second quarter.\n\nBut in the UK, losses worsened to a 21 per cent drop from a 17 per cent fall by the end of the first half.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/specialist-tech-recruiter-sees-hiring-slump-across-uk-and-europe", "canonical_source": "https://www.cityam.com/specialist-tech-recruiter-sees-hiring-slump-across-uk-and-europe/", "published_at": "2026-06-16 07:24:59+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-16 07:53:43.962987+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-research"], "entities": ["SThree", "BDO", "Liz Kendal", "Peter Kyle", "Timo Lehne", "UK", "US", "Japan"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/specialist-tech-recruiter-sees-hiring-slump-across-uk-and-europe", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/specialist-tech-recruiter-sees-hiring-slump-across-uk-and-europe.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/specialist-tech-recruiter-sees-hiring-slump-across-uk-and-europe.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/specialist-tech-recruiter-sees-hiring-slump-across-uk-and-europe.jsonld"}}