Within these dilemmas comes the gap between labor market needs and the skills required to meet those needs, and in light of Britain’s reluctance to a number of jobs in which a number of employees d Eastern Europe were particularly in demand.
A report published by the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ this week, addressed the nature of the job market at present and the current challenges, and revealed a decrease in the number of vacancies with more people finally joining the market. work.
However, at the same time, he warned of the need to improve skills and address health issues that affect work capacity. The report indicates that there are two main factors for the decrease in the number of vacancies, namely:
There are signs that higher interest rates are causing companies to think twice about hiring, leading to fewer vacancies. In the same vein, the rise in the cost of living is pushing more people to re-enter the labor market.
The latest data from the UK Office for National Statistics shows that the number of vacancies fell by 55,000 jobs in the first quarter of this year and that a decrease of 156,000 was recorded in the number of inactive workers (this indicates an increase in the number of people returning to the labor market and looking for a new job).
These figures, along with figures from HMRC, reflect that the UK labor market, which was struggling with too many jobs to advertise and too few workers to fill them, is starting to improve relatively.
the reality is “worse”
Yet London-based researcher, UK Labor Party member Mustafa Rajab says in exclusive statements to Sky News Arabia:
Official statistics don’t always reflect the reality of the British people, for example, we always get police reports of a decrease in crime and theft rates, when the reality says otherwise! Regarding the recovery of the economy and the increase in employment opportunities, we do not see how the increase in the percentage of profits of banks will lead to the recovery of the economy in light of the high payments of companies. to their loans and strikes that hamper the economy of the country due to the government’s intransigence towards most sectors and interests. As for the existence of employment opportunities, there are employment opportunities in certain fields following the departure of Europeans from Great Britain after leaving the European Union, but most of these jobs do not find anyone to occupy them in Great Britain.
The Guardian report says UK businesses have welcomed falling job vacancies, although this trend is partly due to some companies going bankrupt or being too anxious to take on new staff, but what they don’t did not appreciate is “the persistent mismatch between the skills they need and the people they are looking for.
The report quotes head of personnel policy at the British Chamber of Commerce, Jane Gratton, as saying that lack of skills and vacancies are the harsh reality for many businesses across all sectors and regions.
The Institute of Trustees’ chief economist, Katie Usher, also reportedly said: “There are still 282,000 more vacancies in the UK than there were before the pandemic. Government policy must work even harder to ensure our education and training system delivers the kinds of skills it is looking for.
Unpopular jobs
As the London political scientist points out in his interview with the “Sky News Arabia” economics site: “There are jobs that were occupied by Europeans from Eastern Europe in particular, and the most famous of them he was a driver of big trucks, and he had a severe impact on the economy, and the army came down to drive the trucks, and the government also provided great facilities to grant employment contracts to bring in drivers, while the market still suffers from this shortage, as well as a shortage of doctors, nurses and several other jobs for which the British do not apply.
In another context, the Financial Times report highlighted the same return of many people (of all ages) to the labor market, having stopped earlier for special circumstances or for their retirement. Most of the returnees were students looking for work, according to the Office for National Statistics.
At the same time, the report of the British newspaper dealt with the problem of the “health system” in the light of the sharp increase in the number of unemployed people and people with chronic diseases, the number of which reaches 2.55 million people .
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation think tank, reportedly said the rise in people choosing to quit work for health reasons ‘suggests the need for a fundamentally different approach to strengthening the UK workforce “.
inflation
Moreover, the economist of the British newspaper Financial Times, Anwar Al-Qasim, declares in statements exclusive to the site “Sky News Arabia”:
It is clear that high inflation is weighing on the labor market in Great Britain. European labor migration has greatly affected the service, agriculture and healthcare sectors in the country. The unemployment rate reached 3.9% in the first three months of the year, but remains low. The difficulty lies in finding high labor and prices, which worries many families and businesses in Britain, whose population is suffering more economically than any Group of Seven country.
He added: “The government must stick to halving inflation rates and helping families with the cost of living, while pursuing and modernizing economic reforms.”
He points out that Britons have had to withdraw £54 billion from their savings over the past year, and we are not giving away a secret if we say that the wealth index in the country has fallen by 15%, which prompted around 8% of Britons to borrow.
He concluded his speech by stating: “The labor market will continue to suffer for a long time, because the country is paying the price for the international economic situation and the war in Ukraine, and above all for the problem of leaving the European Union, which has was acknowledged today by Brexit godfather Nigel Farage who revealed that the Kingdom was economically affected by its exit from the European Union.
Unemployment rate
The unemployment rate in the UK is currently, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 3.8%. UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said, commenting on the figures: “It is encouraging that the unemployment rate is at unprecedented levels, but the difficulty of finding labor and high prices are of concern to many families and businesses”.
Britain has an inflation rate that is “the highest in Western Europe”. The country’s consumer price inflation rate was 10.1% in March, down slightly from 10.4% in February, according to data from the UK Office for National Statistics. Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 19.1% year-on-year in March (the biggest increase since August 1977).
For his part, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics at the University of Ottawa, David Gray, says in an exclusive statement to “Economy Sky News Arabia” that the evolution of unemployment indicators in the United Kingdom mainly depends on the state of the macroeconomics (and based on this situation, the indicator develops Unemployment is high or low).
He points out that “if the economy goes into a mild recession, which many observers expect, unemployment rates are likely to rise”, noting at the same time that unemployment in the United Kingdom is still at low levels. low levels.
A few days ago, the Bank of England raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%, continuing its hawkish policy in order to curb inflation, which remains the highest of all advanced economies. .
And on Wednesday, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey acknowledged for the first time that the bank was facing a downward spiral in UK wage rates, pledging to raise interest rates.” if necessary” to bring inflation back to the bank’s 2% target.
According to a report by the ‘Financial Times’, the bank’s governor, addressing the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce in London, said the UK is experiencing ‘second round’ effects from the inflation, pointing to the rapid spread of price increases from energy and food to wages and pricing ahead of businesses.
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