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The latest study of UK employers has revealed a four-year low in demand for staff, but there are no signs of further decline in the jobs market.

According to the quarterly CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey, the overall demand for staff has weakened since the end of last year - and is weaker than in any of the spring surveys since the survey began in the spring for 2004.

Employers seem to be adopting a cautious 'wait and see' approach to their staffing requirements rather than taking drastic action to cut jobs.

John Philpott, chief economist for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: "Conditions in the UK labour market are clearly softer than six months ago and softer than at this time of year for several years.

"But net hiring, recruitment minus redundancies, remains strongly positive which suggests that while the labour market is currently experiencing a period of relative slowdown – which should in due course show up in official statistics, possibly in those being released later today by the Office for National Statistics – the market is far from approaching a state of meltdown.

"However, with employers in 'wait and see' mode it remains possible that falling confidence in the outlook for the economy might still trigger a wave of job cuts. If so the tipping point in confidence could result in a sudden avalanche of redundancies and quickly transform the current relatively benign jobs scene."