Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Business

Employers say hiring workers is a struggle despite layoffs

by April 25, 2023
April 25, 2023
Employers say hiring workers is a struggle despite layoffs

Companies wanting to hire are still struggling to find new workers despite the cooling economy and growing numbers of layoffs.

While headlines have been dominated by big job cuts at companies including Microsoft and Ford, 60 per cent of Britain’s businesses are looking to recruit staff, according to the latest survey from the British Chambers of Commerce — broadly the same as at the end of last year.

Of those actively hiring, 80 per cent have reported difficulties as they try to add to their headcounts, just shy of the record 82 per cent that reported similar frustrations in December.

“People shortages are a massive issue and employers can see little sign of improvement,” Jane Gratton, head of people policy at the BCC, said. “The high number of unfilled job vacancies is damaging businesses and the economy. Firms are struggling to fulfil order books and turning down new work.”

She suggested “urgent reform” of the government’s shortage occupations list was needed to make it easier for companies to fill certain positions with overseas workers.

Companies in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors are struggling most, the organisation’s survey showed, with 83 per cent of respondents in those industries reporting hiring troubles. Engineering and construction roles are proving the next hardest to fill, with 81 per cent of those firms unable to find suitable workers. Almost 80 per cent of companies in the professional services, health and education sectors reported difficulties.

The lobby group said businesses were having trouble filling different types of roles. Most of the hospitality companies, for example, could not find unskilled workers, while construction firms reported difficulty hiring skilled manual labour.

“We are desperately short of semi-skilled and unskilled workers,” the boss of one small services company in Sussex said. “We could increase business by about 20 per cent if we could employ and that in turn would bolster the taxation into the government. We are turning away work as we are struggling to meet current requirements with the staff we have.”

The shortage of suitable candidates, especially in certain roles, has led to fierce competition among employers and has pushed wages higher in recent years.

More businesses are now worried about labour costs than they are by energy bills. The manufacturing sector is the most concerned about wage inflation, closely followed by construction and engineering, logistics and hospitality businesses. A big manufacturer in Northern Ireland said that filling vacancies was its “biggest challenge”.

One way around the recruitment difficulties would be to increase staff training, but the BCC said that investment in training remained “stubbornly low”.

About 25 per cent of those companies polled said they had increased their training plans over the past three months, while 14 per cent reported that they had cut back.

The business group suggested that companies were reluctant to commit more to training programmes as they try to keep their costs down with inflation still running high. However, an insurer in Somerset claimed it was struggling to hire more senior staff to train its younger workers.

Read more:
Employers say hiring workers is a struggle despite layoffs

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Brent Hoberman’s Founders Forum Group acquires Tech Nation
next post
Businesswoman ‘facing bankruptcy’ after being sued for Facebook libel

You may also like

How Small Businesses Can Benefit from Managed IT...

November 27, 2024

How to Watch the FIFA World Cup While...

October 24, 2022

Grocery inflation eases as supermarkets ramp up promotions...

February 4, 2025

City chiefs urge Hunt to tackle domestic investment...

November 15, 2023

Almost 60% believe they’ve been denied a promotion...

August 24, 2023

How To Get The Best Remortgage Deals?

May 15, 2023

Bybit suffers £1.1bn crypto heist in largest alleged...

February 25, 2025

Tether Bashes WSJ Over Allegations of Faked Documents...

June 12, 2023

Rolls-Royce new electric model helps Sussex based luxury...

January 8, 2024

Business Planning: A Royal Pain or the Secret...

March 13, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Trump warns of ‘serious consequences’ if Elon Musk funds Democrats

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk jokes about reconsidering stance on Big Beautiful Bill after Schiff’s praise

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk deletes explosive posts about Trump and Epstein files

      June 7, 2025
    • House witness flips script on Dem who ambushed him during hearing with unearthed tweet: ‘Iceberg is ahead’

      June 7, 2025
    • Call with China’s Xi, and Trump-Musk exchange fueled barbs during 20th week in office

      June 7, 2025
    • Trump’s conservative allies warn Congress faces critical ‘test’ with $9.4B spending cut proposal

      June 7, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,152)
    • Investing (2,019)
    • Politics (15,568)
    • Stocks (3,136)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved