Jobs optimism at eight-year high as hard-hit firms hire
COMPANIES in the worst Covidaffected sectors are planning to recruit workers with rising optimism over jobs, research suggests.
Two-thirds of hospitality firms plan to hire staff as the study found a continued fall in the number of employers intending to make redundancies.
Confidence over new jobs has reached an eight-year high, with all sectors experiencing an employment recovery alongside an improvement in pay prospects, it was indicated.
The survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and recruiter
Adecco of more than
1,000 employers said expectations that basic pay is set to increase by two per cent in the next year, up from one per cent this year.
It also found that 64 per cent of businesses plan to recruit staff in the three months to June while just 12 per cent expect job cuts during the same period – although this was an improvement from 20 per cent in the previous quarter discussing cuts.
The quarterly report of CIPD net employment intentions balance, which measures the difference between employers expecting to add jobs and those planning to cut them, hit a score of 27 for the second quarter of 2021, compared with 11 in the first quarter of the year. Employer optimism found the private and voluntary sectors record scores of 28, with the public sector coming in at 22 – bringing a score stronger than at any time since the survey began in February 2013.
Gerwyn Davies, CIPD senior labour market adviser, said: “More jobs and improved pay prospects should give us all reason to cheer, but a solid jobs recovery must be focused on better jobs, not just more jobs.
“To offset the emerging threat of recruitment difficulties, employers should be reviewing not just their recruitment practices, but also the quality of work they offer – such as employment conditions, the possibility of promotion, training opportunities and the right balance of flexibility and security. “There’s more to good work than raising wages.”
Alex Fleming of Adecco, which helped compile the research, added: “Employment intentions across all sectors is at its highest level since winter 2013. But the disruption of Brexit, paired with the lingering threat of Covid-19, means that now more than ever, organisations must remain committed to levelling up and building back better.”
‘More jobs and improved pay prospects should give us all reason to cheer’