UK government must continue with overall spending cuts to reduce the fiscal deficit, but balance this with increased investment spending, the European Commission has said.  The commission said such extra investment – particularly on infrastructure projects – was required to stimulate the UK economy. Regarding the overall growth of...

Just 19 percent of graduates thought about their career before starting their university course. The Milkround Student and Graduate Career Confidence Report, a study of 1,730 students by the graduate recruitment website, found that although the majority of students didn’t consider future job roles before starting their course, once...

UK businesses are failing to engage with the workforce through social media channels, damaging their reputation as an employer of choice and their ability to attract talent, according to new research. The survey shows that the reputation of businesses is increasingly forged online, with half (50.7{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) of UK employees...

Half of key UK industries surveyed believe their sector is suffering a skills shortage – and even more expect the shortfall to get worse, according to recent research.  The results reveal that 54.5 percent of respondents felt the lack of skills in science, technology, engineering and maths would only...

Following last weeks publication of ‘The Growth Factory’, a report exploring ways to rebalance the economy and backed by some high profile MPs, Anna Marie Detert, director in KPMG’s People and Change advisory team, comments: “With the economy shrinking more than was first thought in the first quarter of...

The latest EU legislation comes into force on 26th May 2012, and has potential consequences for every job board and recruitment website. The crux of the new law is that every website targeting users in any EU country must EXPLICITLY provide an OPT-IN to accept cookies being written to...

A survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has found that recruiters have a professional image in the eyes of the majority of the British public, and that people’s good opinion of recruitment consultants increases further when they turn to them for help with their own search for...

New research shows that employee confidence in management is falling. Almost half of the workers sampled (43{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) felt that they are better people managers than their own boss and 23{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} say that management standards are getting worse. Furthermore, nearly a quarter of employees (22{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) don’t think their boss has...

Despite welcome news today that inflation dropped to 3{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} in April, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is warning that employers are continuing to struggle to close the gap between basic salaries and the cost of living.  The prediction is based on the CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook survey of...

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation is planning to introduce a new compliance test as part of its membership process.  Under the proposed scheme, from 1st July 2012 all recruitment agencies wishing to obtain REC membership would have to successfully demonstrate their compliance with relevant industry regulations as well as...