Recruitment specialist Reed Group said demand for new staff has flourished since the referendum, with 150,000 more jobs added to its website in the past three weeks compared with the same period last year.

James Reed, chairman of the £1 billion-plus turnover group, said the 8 per cent increase was a sign that it was ‘business as usual’ despite fears that job vacancies could drop. The growth – in line with the first half of the year – bucks fears of a recruitment crash.

‘The situation is surprisingly good,’ Reed said. ‘The vote hasn’t affected things. People are still hiring and there are lots of opportunities.

‘If a drop in confidence begins to feed through I think we’d be the first to see it. We were the first to see the jobs recovery after the financial crisis because people advertise jobs that only later come through in Government statistics.’

Reed added that 83 per cent of companies it surveyed said they did not plan to freeze recruitment, although two-thirds of the firms had backed Remain before the referendum.