New research by the CIPD reveals that employers seeking staff are being hit by labour shortages.
There has been a drop in the number of both EU and non-EU citizens working in the UK, according to the latest Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey.* The quarterly report, by HR body the CIPD, is based on survey responses from more than 1,000 employers across the UK. According to the latest official data, the number of non-UK-born workers in the UK fell by 58,000 in the 12 months to June 2018. Meanwhile, the number of non-EU-born workers decreased by 40,000 in the same period. The survey revealed the proportion of organisations that currently have vacancies and report recruitment difficulties has increased to around seven in ten employers, compared with around two-thirds of employers three months ago. It also showed that organisations with hard-to-fill roles were struggling to fill on average 43 per cent of their total vacancies.
Lorna Davidson, CEO of short-term recruitment specialist RedWigWam, said that while there is uncertainty in the business community as Brexit approaches, workers are out there ready to fill the vacancies. She said,
At RedWigWam we are experiencing a record-breaking month, with more than 1500 new workers signing up to our online recruitment platform in the past two weeks alone. That means we have more than 70,000 people available for flexible work.Our huge community of workers can help businesses who are finding it difficult to get the staff they need – and at short notice. Our workers have a wide variety of skills, experience and knowledge. They include professionals such as those who have worked in the medical, legal and accountancy sectors, as well as students, parents and the recently retired. We can help companies to fill roles in sectors ranging from hospitality and events to sales and promotions, cleaning and field marketing. And our clients include major brands such as Carlsberg, Tesco and Subway.
*Source: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/work/trends/labour-market-outlook
