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Highlights
- At present, prevailing staff shortages are a huge threat to the UK’s labour market competitiveness.
- 76% of UK firms say access to labour was a major factor to threaten UK’s competitiveness, as per a recent CBI survey.
- The CBI has called for more Government support to plug the staff shortage gap immediately.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in its recent survey has stated that 76% of the total firms in the UK have said that access to labour was a crucial factor, which is jeopardising the UK’s competitiveness as a place to employ people. The trend is for present as well as for the next five years. This has been the highest percentage recorded since this question was first asked in 2016. British businesses believe that the current staff shortages can pose as a huge danger for the UK’s labour market competitiveness.
Based on this, CBI has reached out to the UK Government and has requested for more support for businesses to fill the void as soon as possible. Nevertheless, the survey has disclosed that the job outlook of the UK is getting stronger by the day, with a net balance of 50% of the firms anticipating increasing their workforce in the coming year. Around 87% of the 422 respondents, surveyed between 16 and 31 August 2021, said that they intend to recruit permanent roles this year, along with around 50% anticipating increased hiring levels.
In comparison with the last year, just 9% anticipated lower levels of recruitment for such roles. The data also indicates that 7 out of every 10 firms intend to increase pay either in line with inflation or above it. Jumping up by 2% from July, inflation in the UK went up to 3.2% in August, hitting record-high levels since March 2012.
Apart from staff shortages, businesses were also concerned about access to skills as well as movement of UK workers across the EU. Let’s take a look at some of the UK staffing penny stocks impacted by the news.
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Norman Broadbent Plc (LON:NBB)
Headquartered in London, Norman Broadbent Plc is a UK-based human capital consulting company which provides talent acquisition and advisory services. With a market capitalisation of £3.73 million, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2008 and is also a constituent of the FTSE AIM All-Share index. Its Earnings per share is -0.01 and its 1-year return is 25.00%. The previous close price of Norman Broadbent PLC’s shares was GBX 6.75 as on 20 September 2021.
Parity Group plc (LON:PTY)
Headquartered in London, Parity Group plc is a UK-based company serving both the public and private sectors by offering a variety of recruitment and business and technology solutions. The operations of the company are classified into two segments, which are Parity Professionals and Parity Consultancy Services. With a market capitalisation of £6.44 million, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2013 and is also a constituent of the FTSE AIM All-Share index. Its Earnings per share is -0.01 and its 1-year return is -24.61%. The previous close price of Parity Group PLC’s shares was GBX 6.25 as on 20 September 2021.
RTC Group plc (LON: RTC)
Headquartered in London, RTC Group plc is an AIM listed Recruitment business which offers employment and training services to its client companies. With a market capitalisation of £6.96 million, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1998 and is also a constituent of the FTSE AIM All-Share index. Its Earnings per share is -0.05 and its 1-year return is 14.21%. The previous close price of RTC Group PLC’s shares was GBX 47.50 as on 20 September 2021.
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Prime People Plc (LON: PRP)
Headquartered in London, Prime People Plc is a UK-based global recruitment services company which operates as an infrastructure, real estate, and customer insights recruitment specialist. With a market capitalisation of £8.81 million, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2006 and is also a constituent of the FTSE AIM All-Share index. It has given a return of 51.83% in 1 year. The previous close price of Prime People PLC’s shares was GBX 72.50 as on 20 September 2021.
Empresaria Group plc (LON: EMR)
Headquartered in Crawley, Empresaria Group plc is a UK-based global specialist staffing company. The operations of the group are run across sectors like IT, Healthcare, Construction and Engineering etc. With a market capitalisation of £45.06 million, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2004 and is also a constituent of the FTSE AIM All-Share index. Its Earnings per share is -0.02 and its 1-year return is 116.47%. The previous close price of Empresaria Group PLC’s shares was GBX 91.00 as on 20 September 2021.
