Three quarters of organisations reported experiencing recruitment challenges in 2011, despite widespread unemployment across the UK. Employers are being inundated with unsuitable candidates, struggling to fill vacancies, and talented individuals are staying put, leading to huge skills gaps and a war for talent. This year’s Chartered Institute of Personnel...

More than two-fifths of employees have been made redundant or suffered long-term ill health during their working life, new research. The nationwide study shows 20{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} have been made redundant at some point in their working life while 21{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} have been off work for more than four weeks highlighting the...

Legal & General have this morning commented on the latest ONS figures showing that 131 million days were lost to sickness absence in the UK last year. The report found that: There has been a fall in working days lost because of absence of around 26{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} since 1993 when...

In a speech to business leaders in Manchester, the PM is expected to say the euro area is at a “crossroads” and could go into “unchartered territory”.  Greece’s inability to form a government able to push through austerity plans has led to talk of it exiting the euro.  In...

As the university year draws to a close, a promising new survey shows university graduates can expect up to 20{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} higher starting salaries than they did in 2011. Finding that dream role could be less demanding too with 17{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} of employers saying they are planning to recruit more graduates...

ONS unemployment figures out tomorrow will be watched with a keen eye as last month unemployment fell for the first time in almost a year. The figures fell slightly last month to 2.65 million. However the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said that the outlook for the...

Europe has narrowly avoided returning to recession after recording zero growth in the first three months.  The stronger-than-expected performance was in large part due to growth of 0.5{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} in the German economy.  In the final quarter of 2011, the eurozone shrank by 0.3{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}, and many analysts expected further contraction. ...

61 per cent of international assignees are happier than they were in the UK But more than a fifth didn’t get any support from their employer when moving overseas Nearly half say they would have benefited from more help to move and settle in Some 61 per cent of...

The European industrial production fell by 0.3{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} in March, figures have shown, raising concerns that the bloc has returned to recession.  One of the leading factors behind the monthly fall was an 8.5{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e} drop in energy production.  On Tuesday, the statistics agency will release its first estimate for eurozone...

The EEF employers’ group said that there had been a decline in short-term absence over the past five years.  However, the overall sickness absence rate had flattened off in 2011 and remained unchanged from 2010 at 2.2{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}.   EEF chief medical adviser Prof Sayeed Khan said a “fresh approach” was...