The uncertainty surrounding the recovery of the UK economy is leading the country’s manufacturing sector to turn to temporary recruitment, according to Markit.

Chris Williamson, director and chief economist at Markit, told Recruiter magazine that the rate of growth in manufacturing had “cooled significantly” since earlier in the year.

He said: “We were seeing good payroll growth then. Over the next few months what we are likely to see is firms becoming increasingly reluctant to take on extra staff.

This flexible approach is likely to continue for the next 12 months at least, while manufacturers assess which way the economy is going.

The latest data released by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and Markit showed that UK industrial production was down by 1.5 per cent in the last quarter with manufacturing down by 0.2 per cent.

Markit is a financial information services company providing independent data, valuations, trade processing and loan portfolio management.