Unemployment is record-low, with fewer people than ever without employment. This has caused concern for recruiters, who have seen their sales volumes diminish significantly. Sectors that rely on skilled workers such as construction and manufacturing have also suffered from skill shortages. The departure of EU workers after the 2016 referendum, for example, saw the departure of a large number of brickies, sparkies and other jobs which are integral in the makeup of a prosperous economy.
The Telegraph recently recorded new figures on unemployment in the UK, revealing that close to 60 percent of households had all members aged over 16 in employment, a rise of 315,000 compared to 2017. According to the report, economists are wary about the sustainability of such low unemployment and predict a sharp rise in the future. In either case, business owners should take advantage of positive levels, as well as preparing for the worst.
At the Credit Protection Association, we put an equal amount of effort into protecting our members financial future as we do strengthening their financial present. While employment levels are stable, business owners should focus on training the staff they have, and filling any skills gap that could come about after the Brexit deadline next year. Our debt recovery services help chase down the extra cash needed for such opportunities.
The number of people who are out of the labour force but who would like to work has been falling fast. Ruth Gregory of Capital Economics said that this meant that there was not “too much more scope” for participation rates to increase.
There would, therefore, be no repeat of the “stellar” jobs performance seen in 2017 in the year ahead, she said.
This view was confirmed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday. Its economists said that the UK’s 4.2pc rate of unemployment, its lowest level for more than 40 years, was unsustainably low and may edge up to 4.5pc this year.
