Knowledge Centre
9th November 2009
The worst of the redundancies may be over, but the UK's job market "remains flat on its back", according to new research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Produced in collaboration with professional services provider KPMG, the quarterly Labour Market Survey found that the proportion of employers looking to take on more staff in the three months to December was almost a match for the proportion who said they would employ fewer.
The three-point negative balance between the two percentages follows more pronounced negative balances of 19 points in the spring and 10 points in the summer. While the latest figures suggest that employment prospects are still worsening, they are doing so at a far slower rate than earlier in the year.
The improvement - which points to the fourth quarter having the slowest deterioration in the labour market since the start of the recession in spring last year - is mostly down to fewer firms saying they are planning to make staff redundant, rather than a growth in the number hiring.
According to the survey, which quizzed more than 700 employers from all sections of the economy, weak demand for labour means that some workers have seen their working hours cut, while pay rises have been "modest".
CIPD public policy advisor Gerwyn Davies warned of a possible "relapse" - even if the economy begins to recover - but he also spoke of "mounting hope" that the decline in the job market could end before unemployment reaches three million.
"Things aren't anywhere near as bad as they were earlier in the year, when redundancies spread through the economy like a virus," he added.
According to the most recent Government figures, there were 2.47 million unemployed people in the three months to the end of August.
IMAGE David Jones/PA Archive/Press Association Images
Job market decline 'slowing', says CIPD
Produced in collaboration with professional services provider KPMG, the quarterly Labour Market Survey found that the proportion of employers looking to take on more staff in the three months to December was almost a match for the proportion who said they would employ fewer.
The three-point negative balance between the two percentages follows more pronounced negative balances of 19 points in the spring and 10 points in the summer. While the latest figures suggest that employment prospects are still worsening, they are doing so at a far slower rate than earlier in the year.
The improvement - which points to the fourth quarter having the slowest deterioration in the labour market since the start of the recession in spring last year - is mostly down to fewer firms saying they are planning to make staff redundant, rather than a growth in the number hiring.
According to the survey, which quizzed more than 700 employers from all sections of the economy, weak demand for labour means that some workers have seen their working hours cut, while pay rises have been "modest".
CIPD public policy advisor Gerwyn Davies warned of a possible "relapse" - even if the economy begins to recover - but he also spoke of "mounting hope" that the decline in the job market could end before unemployment reaches three million.
"Things aren't anywhere near as bad as they were earlier in the year, when redundancies spread through the economy like a virus," he added.
According to the most recent Government figures, there were 2.47 million unemployed people in the three months to the end of August.
IMAGE David Jones/PA Archive/Press Association Images
Tags: Employment
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The Job market is slowly coming back up; IMO the worse is over, however companies have already learned to survive with lower overheads. Once the dust clears, the question should be, are these companies going to hire back the employees that were let go?
Posted: 10 Nov 2009 04:20Where are the Tax incentives from the government, for companies to hire back the same American employees that lost their jobs?. Are we going to let them outsource for labor once more?
James Butters
http://www.jobalized.com