AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
.jpg)
Source: Shutterstock
Summary
- Overall, the proportion of firms planning to make redundancies in Q1 2021 has dropped from 30 per cent to 20 per cent as compared to the previous quarter.
- The sectors that shown strongest hiring intentions are education, information and communications, insurance, finance, and healthcare.
Businesses in the UK have shown strong hiring intension in Q1 this year for the first after the coronavirus outbreak. According to the latest results of CIPD - Adecco’s labour market outlook survey, the hiring intentions have risen to 56 per cent for Q1 2021.
This is the most promising pattern since the start of the pandemic. The results came from a survey of 2,000 firms conducted online between 5 and 30 January. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is an association for HR professionals while Adecco is a Zurich-based recruitment firm.
Copyright © 2020 Kalkine Media Pty Ltd.
The results showed that the net employment intentions – calculated by the difference between proportion of employers planning to add jobs and cut positions – rose to +11 for Q1 this year, its highest value for past 12 months, compared to a much lower value of -1 in the last quarter (Q4 2020).
However, the overall unemployment levels in the UK remain very high, found the survey. The official joblessness rate was 5 per cent for the September to November 2020 quarter, as per the Office for National Statistics data with 1.72 million people being unemployed.
More from the survey
Overall, the proportion of firms planning to make redundancies in Q1 2021 has dropped from 30 per cent to 20 per cent as compared to the previous quarter.
The industries that indicated the strongest hiring intentions were education, information and communications, insurance, finance, and healthcare.
At the same time, sectors worst impacted by the pandemic including hospitality did not share similar optimism. Close to one-fourth of the companies surveyed in the hospitality industry revealed that they could further lower their headcount for this quarter.
Reasons for improved hiring
The survey said that the improved employers’ confidence could have been due to many factors such as the signing of Brexit agreement, extension of the furlough scheme till end of April and expected economic revival in H2 this year. Close to 10 million people have been furloughed since March to December last year, as per the latest available official data.
Despite all this, the long-term hiring trend would depend on the level of social distancing restrictions and extension of overall government support to jobs and businesses in the March budget. Chancellor Rishi Sunak would be announcing this year’s budget on 3 March.
Going forward
It is true that government’s job retention schemes have enabled many businesses to avoid firing staff during the pandemic period. Moreover, this aid remains a key factor in minimising any redundancies going forward.
At the same time, investment in upskilling and reskilling will be an important tool for futureproofing new as well as existing employees.
Meanwhile, Gerwyn Davies, labour market adviser, CIPD said that it would be counterproductive in case the Sunak’s fiscal support faltered at this crucial juncture when some of the most crucial sectors are in survival mode.
