The deterioration in the jobs market continued last month, according to new research from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

Its report shows that the number of permanent placements available has now dropped for eight consecutive months, falling at an even sharper rate in November.

The nursing, medical and care sectors were the only ones to avoid a decline, while all other industries put recruitment programmes on hold amid continued economic gloom

Commenting on the report, Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, said: "These figures confirm that the jobs market has hit the wall."

Temporary staff billings also fell at their sharpest ever rate last month, the survey shows.

At the same time, candidate availability surged, due to the reduced number of opportunities available and the increase in redundancies.

According to figures seen by the Telegraph, some 29,590 jobs have been lost at major British companies in the past two months.