This is according to the latest quarterly CIPD/Adecco Group Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey, which questioned over 1,000 employers in late September (ahead of the second lockdown and reinstatement of the furlough scheme) and covered all sectors of the economy.
With recruitment intentions below pre-pandemic levels but seeing a slight increase for the second consecutive quarter, the report revealed that 53% of employers plan to recruit in the three months to December 2020, which is up four percentage points on the summer (49%), but down 16 percentage points on the same quarter last year (69%).
However, the data also shows that 30% of employers are planning on making staff redundant this quarter with 17% admitting they don’t yet know whether they would be making redundancies in the next months or not.
Gerwyn Davies, Senior Labour Market Adviser for the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said, “When it comes to the immediate jobs outlook, the best that can be said is that the situation is getting worse more slowly. Employment looks set to keep falling and the relatively weak demand for labour means that it is going to be a long and hard winter, affecting young jobseekers in particular.
“To help minimise the jobs fallout as restrictions continue, the Government should expand its training and employability support. Reforms to the apprenticeship levy are needed to make it more flexible so firms can use it for other forms of accredited training and skills development, including for those workers being redeployed, working reduced hours or being made redundant. This would be an immediate way to boost badly needed adult skills investment.”
Alex Fleming, Country Head and President of Staffing and Solutions, the Adecco Group UK and Ireland, added, “Despite the jobs market remaining uncertain, it’s positive to see a slowing of downward trends, with redundancy intentions decreasing modestly compared to the summer Labour Market Outlook report and more than half of UK employers planning to recruit in Q4.
“Employers have continued to adopt a variety of tactics in order to reduce redundancies, including the furlough scheme and redeployment. However, with a new month-long lockdown now in place, it’s more important than ever that as much support as possible continues to be provided by the Government and organisations to help minimise the jobs fallout.”
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