UK businesses are not creating new jobs, according to a report published today.
Hays, the UK’s largest recruitment company, today said that firms are now filling positions left vacant by employees leaving their posts, but are failing to create new positions.
This marks an improvement in comparison with last year when, according to Hays chief executive Alistair Cox, “nine times out of ten” vacancies created through ‘employee churn’ were left unfilled by firms.
There are continuing fears over the state of the UK jobs market, which reflect general concern about the economy at large. Although economic growth was faster than expected in the second quarter of the year, many analysts are worried about the sustainability of the recovery.
It is presumed that unemployment will rise sharply in the coming year as public sector redundancies begin in earnest. It is unlikely that the public sector will be able to absorb all those who find themselves without a job.
Mr Cox told the Today programme: “At the moment most of the demand for jobs is simply organisations replacing employees who’ve left. So it’s really about job churn at the moment.”
Many commentators believe that the SME sector will drive a recovery in the jobs market – although true expansion still appears to be some way off.
