The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 4: Summer 2017 | Page 12

RECRUITMENT EMPLOYERS TURN TO TEMPS TO FILL SKILLS GAP Nine in ten UK employers (89 per cent) will increase or maintain their temporary workforce in the next three months, according to a survey by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). This is a rise of nine percentage points compared to findings reported in March (80 per cent), suggesting that businesses may become increasingly reliant on temporary workers. The increasing demand for temporary workers appears to be in response to falling availability of candidates to fill permanent vacancies. Following the publication of official data showing that UK unemployment has fallen to 4.6 per cent (the lowest level since 1975) a recent JobsOutlook survey of 606 employers revealed: • a third (33 per cent) report having no spare workforce capacity within their organisation • nearly half (46 per cent) anticipate a shortage of candidates to fill permanent roles in the next year, with construction, engineering & technical, and health & social care highlighted as particular areas of concern • of those that use temporary workers, 65 per cent do so to manage peaks in demand, 57 per cent need them to respond to growth, and 48 per cent say they want to gain access to key strategic skills. The increased use of temporary workers may have a financial burden for some businesses, with one in five (19 per cent) claiming that agency workers earn more than permanent staff in equivalent roles. REC chief executive Kevin Green said: “This looks like a tipping point for the jobs market. Faced with chronic skills shortages, some employers are giving up on trying to fill permanent vacancies, and instead looking for temp resource to ensure they have the manpower needed to meet demand. “For jobseekers this means there are opportunities out there to boost earnings, because employers are prepared to pay a premium for people to fill vacancies on an interim basis. We could see this become a more attractive option for people in the context of rising inflation and poor pay growth.” Emma Summers director of leading South West recruitment firm Juice Recruitment said: “Juice has certainly seen this trend locally, with a recent increase in demand for temporary workers. We are seeing a growing sense of urgency about the skills shortage being experienced by employers and the temporary to permanent option certainly seems a more popular route.” To read the data tables in full visit: www.comresglobal.com Keep up to date with recruitment news via Twitter by following: @RECPress @JuiceRecruit PRIME DATES SELLING FAST AT BATH’S HISTORIC VENUES EXCLUSIVE HIRE AND SHARED PARTY NIGHTS www.bathvenues.co.uk/TBE17 • [email protected] • 01225 477786 12 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017