69% Micro
24% Small
5% Mid
2% Large
0% Mega
INSIGHTS - MARCH 2025
UK Recruitment Industry
UK Recruitment Industry Information
The recruitment industry involves listing employment opportunities and referring or placing applicants for temporary or permanent employment and the provision of human resources functions.
Active Businesses
41,318
Annual Sales
£96bn +
Employees
898,291
Economic Contribution
£42bn
Tags
Location of Recruitment Companies
Recruitment Companies by Size
Recruitment Companies by Age
35% Young
30% Startup
25% Established
10% Mature
0% New
Oldest Recruitment Companies
Established
Fastest Growing Recruitment Companies
39% Declining
23% Rapid
15% Healthy
14% High
9% Low
Fastest Growing Recruitment Companies
3yr CAGR
Navolio Limited
121%
Recruitment Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers
Recruitment Industry Valuation
EBITDA Multiple
Recruitment Industry Valuation
Turnover Multiple
Recruitment Industry Valuation
Net Asset Multiple
Note - from March 2020 multiples are calculated monthly, prior to this they were calculated on an annual basis.
UK Employment activities Industry Insights
There are 41,318 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of £96 billion .
The Industry employs around 898,290 people and contributes £42 billion to the economy.
The most popular location for Recruitment companies is London with 13,238 and the fewest are located in Northern Ireland with 344.
The largest Recruitment company is Paystream My Max Limited with a turnover of £2.5bn. 69% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 5% Mid companies.
10% of the Recruitment Industry is made up of 10% Mature but the majority are Young businesses (35%) the oldest company is The Papworth Trust founded in 1917.
Recruitment industry has a number of high growth companies (14%), the fastest growing company is The Uk Recruitment Co. Ltd with a 3 year growth rate of 204%. Other fast growing companies include Navolio Limited (121%), Rx Delivery Solutions Limited (101%) and Cpl Solutions International Limited (96%).
The UK Recruitment Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 8.48x, Turnover multiple of 0.62x and a Net Asset multiple of 1.74x.
