UK employers continue to hunt for staff after closures and Brexit

LONDON, September 3 (Reuters) – British employers are still looking for more hires than they were just before the pandemic, according to a survey which has added to signs of a tight labor market in the aftermath lockdowns from COVID-19 and Brexit.

The Confederation of Recruitment and Employment said on Friday that 1.66 million vacancies were active in the week to August 29, more than the average of 1.55 million for January and February 2020 and little change from early August levels.

New job vacancies posted during the week stood at 193,000, also above the January-February 2020 average of 171,000.

“The demand for workers remains very high across the economy and shows no signs of weakening,” REC CEO Neil Carberry said. “As companies in the particularly busy food, logistics and hospitality industries begin to prepare for Christmas, the months ahead could be difficult – even with large numbers of people taking their leave in August and September, “he said.

Britain’s unemployment rate of 4.7% in the three months to June is higher than before the crisis when it stood at just under 4%, but it defied forecasts that it would reach 10% or more during the pandemic crisis thanks in large part to the government wage subsidy scheme.

This scheme should be phased out by the end of September. But the low unemployment rate is also partly due to an increase in workers not looking for jobs so are excluded from the unemployment rate calculations.

The UK government has rejected calls from retail and logistics companies to temporarily relax post-Brexit immigration rules which they say are contributing to a shortage of truck drivers and serious disruption in the supply chain. supply. Read more

Written by William Schomberg, edited by David Milliken

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