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UK labour market Sept 22

ended 12. September 2022

The latest UK (un)employment data is out tomorrow morning at 07:00. If you'd like the chance to see your views in the local and national media, please answer the following Qs:

  • Are employers confident right now about hiring or are they battening down the hatches?
  • Who holds all the cards right now? Employers or employees?
  • Are employees, in your experience, proactively asking for pay rises to keep up with inflation?
  • Are companies, many of which are under pressure for no end of reasons, struggling to offer pay rises?
  • Do you think unemployment is going to rise during the latter stages of 2022 and in 2023?
  • Why are some sectors, such as hospitality, struggling to recruit? There are vacancies aplenty.
  • Are employees still demanding flexibility or are they increasingly happy to have a job as inflation and interest rates soar?

Any other thoughts or insights on the jobs market, jot them down. Please don't write War and Peace.

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Louise Skittrall
HR Expert at Robinson Grace HR Consultancy
Employers are struggling to recruit due to low applicant numbers so it's no surprise that retention is a top priority for employers. With mortgage rates, fuel and energy costs increasing, employers are having to think creatively about how to retain staff. Many organisations simply cannot afford to increase pay or make bonus payments to staff, so are thinking outside the box to help them. Non-monetary and low cost options are being put in place by savvy employers. These include subsidised or free staff meals, putting in place food bank-style fridges or food baskets to enable food swaps amongst staff, personal hygiene products provided in the workplace, and negotiating staff discounts in supermarkets, food outlets and local stores. Others are arranging for cash and carry cards in the business name to be utilised by staff, offering financial wellbeing training and support, employee hardship funds, setting up a car share scheme to ease fuel costs and increasing training and development to enhance promotion prospects. We're also seeing supermarket vouchers being used as a thank you, rewards and staff gifts and the implementation of working at home allowances for home and hybrid workers. With further energy increases due next month and more people coming out of fixed deals for energy and mortgages each week, employers can act now to help where they can.
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Kate Underwood
Managing Director / HR Director at Kate Underwood HR and Training
It's very much a patchwork employment market. Some sectors, such as hospitality and retail, are crying out for employees and are having to be creative about how they advertise jobs. In these sectors, and others, employees still hold all the cards. We are seeing candidates coming for interview, accepting an offer and then, if they get a better offer, withdrawing sometimes the day before they start. You will lose staff if you're not providing at least the same package as your competitors. Employers need to be very mindful of their existing staff otherwise it is going to hit their bottom line if they start losing them. With the cost of living rising, employers are really struggling to keep up with salaries and other expenses. Talking to teams and finding out what they want is so important, as most employees realise that it is going to be a struggle for everyone. Increases in pension contributions, online discount platforms to make the money go further are just a few things that are helping employers help their employees at the moment.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
Although we still have a tight labour market, the type of work that is available now is low paid jobs. Confidence is slipping away from employers as economic sentiment changes. The second half of 2022 will usher in a recession and confidence will slip further. Due to this, I would suggest the days of demanding higher wages is ending. It was never going to be sustainable for small businesses to offer pay rises that kept up with the current inflation rate, and the expectation of this will soon be over.
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Scott Gallacher
Director at Rowley Turton
Despite dark clouds on the horizon, most employers I speak to are surprisingly confident. Unfortunately, one of the major issues is staff recruitment. It is almost impossible to hire people at the moment. Employees, and in particular potential employees, are holding all the cards right now. We're seeing an increasing demand for flexibility and remote working regardless of the needs of the business. These labour issues, coupled with high inflation leading to higher pay settlements, are a significant threat to UK business and future growth.
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Sandra Wilson
Owner/Director at Cottrell Moore Limited
The recruitment market hasn't changed dramatically over the summer but we have noticed more active and available candidates across multiple sectors appearing in recent weeks. However, this is not unusual after the summer holidays when people have time to reflect, so at this stage is not something I would like to say is particularly significant. Companies are however very reluctant to offer pay increases to new starters as they are increasingly concerned about the economic landscape. One growing trend we are seeing is employers giving more hours to existing employees rather than recruiting an additional person, which often suits both parties. I think the scales may finally start to balance out over the next quarter and into next year between employers and employees. As the expected recession bites, employees may no longer hold all the cards.
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Kieran Boyle
Managing Director at CKB Recruitment Ltd
Within our sectors, insurance and financial services, we have seen no sign of employers worrying about a recession and vacancies remain at an all-time high. This in turn has ensured that the employee still holds all the cards, as our clients continue to struggle to fill a large number of vacancies. Employees are also proactively asking for, and in a lot of cases, getting pay rises, as companies continue to fear losing staff that they will not be able to replace. We do envisage unemployment rising if there is a bad recession, but it may not be too pronounced in insurance and financial services.
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Lauren Thomas
Economist at Glassdoor
Summer's red hot labour market is experiencing an autumn chill. But while the labour market is loosening, our data shows demand for new roles should heat up, with job applications increasing 10% during September to date. With negative real wage growth expected thanks to near-record levels of inflation and no end in sight to the economic headwinds, it's no surprise that layoffs and the cost of living are staying top of mind for employees. In the six months since February 2022, mentions of energy/heating and layoffs/redundancies have increased 33 percent and 81 percent, respectively. Concerns about the cost-of-living crisis have also grown sharply, with negative mentions of the cost of living or inflation growing over four times since December of 2021.