How was your job situation eight years ago? Odds are it”s not nearly as good as it is now, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
The REC says that the expansion of the jobs market – for both permanent employees and contract workers – is positively on fire at the moment. Not only that, but thanks to the skills shortage employers are doing their best to retain skilled workers, leading to ballooning salaries as well!
Employer confidence is returning, says the REC, and this will doubtlessly lead to more and better opportunities for freelancers looking for better and more numerous job opportunities. Things are absolutely wonderful and there’s nothing to worry about. Really. No, honestly there’s nothing wrong.
Yeah, I don’t believe that either. Truth is that the REC did have to admit that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the jobs market at the moment, though I’m sure it hurt to make the admission. Once the REC stopped trying to blow smoke up all our arses, it did go on to say that the skills gap is taking a serious toll on staff availability. There are nowhere near enough workers to fill all these new job vacancies, and while it’s good news in the short term for anyone looking for a job right this very moment (provided they can qualify for the position) down the pike it’s going to be a serious problem – a problem so bad that even the Pollyannas down at the REC aren’t going to be able to ignore it.
So yes, it’s wonderful that there’s so many jobs out there right now and that salaries are up in order to keep skilled staff from straying to different positions at rival firms. It still doesn’t address the problem that we’re going to have in a few months or years when the UK employment market collapses under its own weight and companies have to choose between scaling back their growth or outsourcing positions overseas. It’s a rock and a hard place situation we’ve got here, and for what it’s worth I don’t see that anything’s being done to actually increase the number of skilled job seekers instead of just shuffling around freelancers and umbrella company contractors from one project to another. It’s good to have plenty of clients as a temporary worker, but eventually you have to sleep, don’t you? Good luck on that one if things don’t change.
