Commenting on employment figures released today by the Office for National Statistics which show employment levels remain stable but a rise in the number of unemployed people, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s CEO Kevin Green says:

“Although there has been an increase in the number of people unemployed this month, all the indications and feedback we receive from recruiters show that businesses intend to hire more people this year. We expect to see slow growth in the jobs market over the coming months.

“In fact, in some parts of the labour market the looming problem is not a lack of vacancies but a shortage of talent to fill the jobs that the private sector is creating. IT and engineering are the obvious examples but there are some less well known ones too, like drivers and chefs. Recruiters have reported a shortage of drivers nearly every month for the past two years and the existing workforce is rapidly ageing. There are nearly as many drivers aged over 60 as there are under 30, which is unheard of in any other sector of the UK economy.

“A two speed labour market is developing with a dearth of candidates with in-demand skills at the same time as an unacceptably high number of long term unemployed who don’t have the skills and experience necessary to take advantage of the jobs that are available.”
Credit: onrec.com