Jobless figures up but hope on the horizon

The good news is that opportunities in the job market do exist but, being at the front line, we know they’re not particularly easy for job seekers to find, or secure.
The latest rise in unemployment reflects this.

Figures, covering the three months until November 2011, show an increase of 118,000 in the number of people out of work. The jobless total, according to the Office of National Statistics, now stands at 2.68 million.

While the private sector has continued to create new jobs it is not in sufficient numbers to compensate for the 67,000 shed by the public sector. So the scales don’t balance. As I said, the opportunities do exist but not in the quantities necessary to reverse the upward trend.

The outlook may appear gloomy but we have noticed some sectors bucking the trend. And, according to news from the industry body Recruitment and Employment Confederation, we’re not the only ones.

There is strong demand in IT, for office professionals and in engineering and surveys reveal encouraging signs in terms of hiring strategies for the coming months.
Around 40,000 permanent positions each month are being filled by recruitment agencies – which does prove we’re working hard for our candidates!

Of course, I’m realistic. The job market is tough at the moment. And the general thinking is that it will continue to get worse before stabilising later in the year.
In the meantime, we are doing what we can to help lessen the impact of the difficult economic times on both clients and candidates.

An interesting year…and another to come

The introduction of the Agency Workers Regulations in October was the biggest national event affecting our industry in 2011. So far, the figures don’t suggest it has made any real dents in the demand for temporary and interim staff. But we’ve only just slipped into the 12 week time frame for ensuring temporary staff receive comparable pay and benefits to permanent staff. Once the reality of that starts kicking in, there could be knock on effects and we will be watching closely for them.

It has certainly created a huge volume of work for us and our clients. We have spent much of the year discussing compliancy with businesses we work with – and others in the Peterborough region. Processes have had to be put in place, record keeping amended and information gathered to ensure the regulations are adhered to. By the time the regulations were written into legislation we were very pleased we’d spent so long preparing.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that 2012 is going to throw up its own challenges.
There is a general concern within the industry that the labour market will remain fragile certainly in the early part of the year.
There is also a worry that all the talk of that will rock employer confidence which is key to job creation.

Training will be vital. We know that while there are a lot of people looking for jobs there are some vacancies which can’t be filled because of a lack of candidates with suitable skills. This is something we will be discussing with those we work closely with in education and higher education.

Our industry body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) is predicting unemployment will peak at around 2.75 million.

Our region didn’t fare too badly in 2011, when compared with the rises in unemployment elsewhere in the country. We can only hope that trend continues.
Of course, much of what happens nationally – and as a result locally – will depend on the European situation which we shall be watching closely.

And just a little note about what’s been happening here at ACR. Looking back it has been a year of changes. We have said goodbye to some familiar faces, hello to a clutch of new ones – and congratulations to a number of new mums and mums-to-be among the team too!
Throughout all that we have continued to strive to provide our clients and candidates with the excellent service they have come to expect from us.

And that’s just what we will continue to do in 2012.

Happy new year!