UK jobs market set to defy Brexit gloom in 2017

Brett

Stuart Miles@freedigitalphotos.net

Despite all the uncertainty following Brexit, the Confederation of British Industry’s annual employment survey has revealed that the UK can expect to see a flourishing jobs market in 2017.

353 small and large businesses were surveyed in a bid to find out how companies feel about recruiting over the next 12 months and the results really do make for some reassuring reading.

  • “Almost every part” of the private sector is expected to hire more staff with the science, technology and construction industries set to experience the biggest boost.
  • 41% of companies surveyed said that they are planning to grow their workforce in 2017.
  • This is the sixth consecutive year where the balance of businesses expecting to recruit has been 20% or more.
  • More companies are expecting to increase pay levels to bring them in line with inflation compared to this time last year.

This positivity is further fuelled by the Business Census 2017 Report which also reveals that UK companies are becoming increasingly confident about their ability to find and recruit staff.

1,300 companies were surveyed at the end of 2016 and it was found that the number of businesses which see recruitment as their biggest challenge has fallen by more than half over the last two years. This is a significant drop down to 9% compared to the 2015 figure which was 24%.

What’s more, 54% of those questioned said they’re expecting to hire new staff throughout the course of 2017 and a whopping 74% foresee their business growing in the coming year.

Recruitment was found to be more of a challenge in Wales than anywhere else with 14% naming it their biggest concern. This figure falls to just 7% amongst companies who are based in London.

The figures have also been broken down by industry with the report showing that the construction sector struggles the most with recruitment with 14% naming it as their biggest concern. This was followed by manufacturing (11%), food and drink (10%), retail (6%) and professional services (6%).

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