British employers' demand for staff grew in October at the slowest rate in almost eight years, a survey showed on Friday, underlining suspicions at the Bank of England that the labour market may be losing its strength.

A monthly index of jobs vacancies from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and accountants KPMG fell to 51.7 from 52.6 in September, its lowest level since January 2012.

Friday's REC report - which is monitored by the BoE - showed permanent job placements fell for an eighth month running and at a faster rate than in September, chiming with official data which showed job creation waning ahead of the aborted October Brexit deadline.

James Stewart, vice chair at KPMG, said uncertainty around Brexit and a national election scheduled for Dec. 12 had dampened companies' hiring plans. "It's not just businesses that are being cautious, however, and over October we've seen job-seekers become increasingly nervous about making a career change," said James Stewart, vice chair at KPMG.