Leading recruitment boss warns tariffs will hit Britain’s creaking jobs market

Donald Trump’s emerging trade war is another blow to the jobs market after a slowdown over the last year, the chief executive of recruiter Robert Walters has warned.  

Toby Fowlston told investors on Tuesday that tariffs will likely impact client and candidate confidence in the short term and were restricting his firm’s ‘visibility on the outlook for the balance of the year’.

It came as the recruiter revealed a large slump in revenues for the first quarter, as a continued global hiring slowdown drove double-digit declines in fees in every region. 

President Donald Trump recently implemented a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all US goods imports and a 25 per cent levy on all steel, cars and aluminium products.

He also slapped a whopping 145 per cent duty on all products imported from China and briefly imposed ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on dozens of other nations before suspending them for 90 days.

In response, China has put a 125 per cent tax on imported US products, while Canada has applied 25 per cent tariffs on everything from vegetables to clothing, jewellery, and tableware.

Trump’s erratic application of tariffs and the subsequent retaliations by China and Canada have incited turmoil in global markets and raised the prospect of businesses slowing hiring or cutting jobs, thereby dampening the revenues of recruiters.

Problems: Recent tariff measures have raised the prospect of businesses slowing hiring or cutting jobs and dampening the revenues of recruiters

Robert Walters revealed its net fee income fell by 16 per cent at constant currency levels to £67.3million in the first quarter.

Income plunged 22 per cent to £21.9million following double-digit percentage drops in Spain, Germany and France.

Meanwhile, income in the Netherlands sank by 30 per cent as stricter enforcement powers regarding self-employment regulations slowed temporary hiring volumes.

Over the same period, income from the Asia-Pacific region declined by 15 per cent to £27.4million amid subdued demand for temporary public sector jobs in New Zealand and more cautious full-time hiring by businesses in Japan.

Robert Walters did comparatively well in the UK, with income only marginally falling by 4 per cent at reported rates to £12.6million thanks to a surge in London-based recruitment.

Fowlston said: ‘We saw some pockets of growth in the UK and broadly stable activity levels in Asia-Pacific; however, the weaker sentiment seen in Europe in late 2024 has continued. 

‘More recently, increased uncertainty regarding the flow of global trade due to tariffs is likely to be a further headwind to client and candidate confidence in the near term – limiting visibility on the outlook for the balance of the year at the present time. 

‘Continual focus is being applied to all elements of our cost base.’

Robert Walters shares slid 3.1 per cent to 220p on Tuesday morning, meaning they have lost around 44 per cent of their value in the past year.

Fellow recruiter PageGroup, owner of Michael Page, revealed a similarly challenging first-quarter result last week.

The FTSE 250 company said its gross profits declined by 9.2 per cent to £194.2million due to difficult economic conditions across most of its markets.

It also provided no forward-looking guidance, citing Trump’s tariffs and the resulting market uncertainty.