The Office for National Statistics today published its latest labour market data revealing that the number of people out of work in the UK soared in the three months to August by 164,000 compared to the previous quarter, the biggest rise for 17 years.
Commenting on these figures, Kevin Green, Chief Executive at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), said:
ìThese latest figures are cause for concern and reflect the huge fall in demand for staff which the REC/KPMG Report on Jobs has also shown over the last 3 months. At this stage, we need to concentrate on keeping people in work. To this end, we are calling on the Government to reconsider removing the VAT staff hire concession on temporary workers, scheduled for April 2009. The removal of this concession will add 400million to the cost of temporary placements in the financial services, social care and charity sectors. A cost which few employers can afford in the present climate.î
Despite the gloomy outlook, recruiters are still making many placements. Kevin Green continued, ìRecruitment agencies will be looking for new opportunities for those that have been made redundant and we urge people to snap up these new opportunities, be they temporary or permanent positions.î
Kevin Green concludes, ìRecruitment agencies can work with employers to move people directly into new jobs. Those that are planning to make redundancies should work with local recruiters to make this transition as painless as possible. These are difficult times, but there are still plenty of vacancies in the jobs market and recruiters play a vital role in swiftly moving people into new positions.î
UK Recruitment Body Responds to Latest Labour Market Data
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