Companies are having to pay more for staff as they struggle to find the skilled workers they need, a report has found.

 

After months of sluggish wage growth, personal finances are due to get some respite. The strain of small pay packets has driven consumers into frugality and prompted a general reluctance to loosen purse strings. As a reaction to recent difficulty in finding skilled workers, employers have been forced to increase wages. This will release some of the pressure on households while simultanously increasing it for businesses who are barely struggling to sustain prosperity.

This new activity was recorded in the latest monthly survey from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). It found that wages in August grew at the second fastest rate in more than three years. The new figures follow reports from recruiters that the availability of staff has continued to decline sharply.

Consumers have been waiting patiently for wage growth to improve, with rising living costs and higher energy prices weighing down on household budgets. Hopefully larger pay packets will drive up retail sales as consumers will have more money to spend on essentials.

The general instigator has been the ongoing skill shortage, which has put pressure on employers. Employment is high and unemployment within the UK is at a 43-year low, but finding skilled workers has proven to be a much tougher challenge.

According to the REC survey, it is IT, computing and engineering industries where shortages were most acute. The construction and manufacturing sectors were also hit hard by the departure of large numbers of their skilled EU workforce.

 

Mr Carberry said: “How long our labour market can defy gravity if the shape of future trading arrangements with the EU remains unclear is the big question. Companies are starting to implement contingency plans now. The biggest long-term question on jobs is how they will be affected by new technology and stiff price competition driven by value-conscious consumers. For recruiters helping people find pathways from sectors like retail into growing sectors will boost opportunity and address candidate shortages in key sectors.”

This new development is good news for consumers and consumer markets but suggests a much bigger problem for the skilled workforce. At the Credit Protection Association, our Members make up the general expanse of the business landscape, ranging from skilled to unskilled, consumer-driven to entrepreneurs.

Our debt recovery services provide cash injections for our Members, allowing them to focus on problem areas such as recruitment or cash flow. Our credit monitoring services also provide our members with financial security, utilising credit reports and company databases to ensure their clients and employees will not look elsewhere.

 

Please call us on 0330 053 9263 to discuss how CPA can help your cashflow.
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