Employers remain pessimistic about hiring new staff as businesses “hoped for more” from the Spring Statement, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ Spring Statement saw multi-billion pound spending commitments on defence and construction as she vowed to “kickstart economic growth”. 

But a new survey of more than 700 UK employers suggests that businesses remain downbeat about taking on new staff. 

The survey was conducted before Reeves delivered her Spring Statement but a note from REC said: “Businesses hoped for more from this week’s Spring Statement to help them drive growth.”

The research showed a “very gentle trend of improvements” in business confidence but both measures taken – confidence in hiring and confidence in the UK economy – remained in the red. 

Medium-sized and larger employers were more optimistic than small businesses as confidence among firms with up to 50 employees barely changed, the survey said. 

REC’s last survey in January suggested that the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions had taken its toll on hiring intentions

Neil Carberry, REC’s chief executive, said that remained the case in their latest survey.