LONDON, (Reuters) – British recruiters reported Friday that October saw a slowdown in the hiring of staff through recruitment agencies. This was due to a shortage of qualified workers.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation stated that a shortage of temporary and permanent candidates has pushed up the starting salary the highest since 1997. This is according to a survey, which will be used by the Bank of England in its review of the current state of the employment market.

Kate Shoesmith (REC’s deputy chief executives officer) said that signs are beginning to show we’re moving into a new stage of recovery as initial bounce back in demand begins to ease.

The number of vacant positions remained high, but they fell in September.

Shoesmith stated that the record-breaking rise in starting wages was not visible across all industries and Britain should keep its word on how it will help workers to earn more by providing better training.

On Thursday, the BoE resisted raising interest rates, igniting investor fears. It chose to wait for more information about how Britain’s labour markets are coping with the ending of last month’s government-funded pandemic emergency job support.