Female umbrella contractors might be interested to learn that Scottish recruiters believe the shortage of women working in the engineering, maths, science and technology sectors could be detrimental to the country’s economy.
A study by ICAs shows that finance directors are losing confidence in the UK economy and cannot reach consensus over the best way to solve the problem.
The OECD has reported that the UK economy grew by a mere 0.7% in the last year, making it the second worst performing economy in the G7 nations. Only Japan’s economy performed worse than ours and it had the earthquake and tsunami to contend with.
The latest Business Trends report from BDO shows that business confidence is plummeting as growth in the manufacturing sector seems to have stagnated.
New research from Aviva shows that around 10% of small firms in the UK are worried they might have to close this year if trading conditions do not improve.
Umbrella company contractors may be interested to read the CBI’s predictions for the UK economy.
Last week’s GDP figures from the Office for National statistics confirmed growth of just 0.2% in the second quarter of this year.
The Office for Budget Responsibility says that tougher austerity measures and higher taxes are needed if Britain is to achieve long term fiscal sustainability.
It might come as no surprise to umbrella contractors to learn that small businesses are losing faith in the UK’s banking system.
The Work Foundation recently said that the UK’s future prosperity would only be secured if the knowledge economy provided jobs and balanced growth.
Contractors are unlikely to be surprised to hear that British employees in the 18 to 29 age group are suffering from high levels of workplace stress and they believe they are been forced to bear the brunt of the credit crisis recovery.
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, recently called on the coalition to implement a temporary emergency reduction in the VAT rate to jump-start the economy and boost consumer confidence.
The latest statistics from the government show that UK bankruptcies have fallen significantly over the last 12 months.
David Cameron caused a certain amount of controversy last week when he promised to reduce the number of immigrants coming to this country to “tens of thousands” per year.
Umbrella company contractors may already be aware that some industry sectors are doing better than others. Prospects in the IT and telecoms sector for example are blooming whilst public sector opportunities are diminishing fast for obvious reasons.
The economic recovery in Scotland faltered during the bad weather last December, according to Lloyds TSB’s Scotland Business Monitor.
