New unemployment figures: looking to the budget, or reform

In the wake of yesterday’s unemployment figures, which saw the unemployment rate rise to 8.4%, a number of solutions have been put forward by recruiters and economists.
Thurs, 16 Feb 2012
In the wake of yesterday’s unemployment figures, which saw the unemployment rate rise to 8.4%, a number of solutions have been put forward by recruiters and economists.

Sean Morgan, managing director of business training provider Quest Professional, which has also recently launched a recruitment consultancy arm, says that current employment legislation makes it “very scary” for small businesses to take on young people, adding: “It is easier not to bother employing someone and do the work yourself or simply go without, which also makes it hard for smaller businesses to expand.Morgan continues: “There are many hundreds of thousands of jobs potentially available if the law were less intimidating for employers.

“I am sure many would prefer the prospect of having reduced employment rights in exchange for having a job at all.”

Charles Levy, senior economist at the Work Foundation, looks to the Chancellor’s Budget next month for solutions, hoping it will “bolster business confidence and enable companies to begin hiring again.”

He adds: “The deficit reduction strategy alone is not enough… The government urgently needs a coordinated plan for boosting investment, innovation and exports, and it must signal its intention to do this immediately.”

Meanwhile, Carmen Watson, managing director of recruiter Pertemps believes “Urgent measures are therefore needed to achieve the stability required to restore that confidence that will encourage businesses to hire again”.

Dr John Philpott, the chief economic adviser atthe Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) does not suggest internal solutions to what he calls the “slow, painful contraction that will see unemployment crawl toward close to 3 million by the end of 2012”, suggesting that the “importance of securing a resolution on the euro problem as quickly as possible” is the most crucial factor.

Boorman: Facebook passwords at interview fears a ‘storm in a teacup’

In the wake of concerns about employers asking job applicants for Facebook passwords at interview, social media guru and founder of #Tru events, Bill Boorman, tells Recruiter that such cases are still rare.

27 March 2012

headline 1

In March last year a major extension of the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) code of conduct came into force.

27 March 2012

Finnish cloud firm Hammerkit opens office and creates jobs in Liverpool_2

Finnish cloud firm Hammerkit opens office and creates jobs in Liverpool
20 January 2012

Independent help with bright ideas_2

With expansion a top priority, e2v needed to standardise its recruitment processes and turned to RPO experts Independent

25 January 2012
Top