New data released recently by the Office for National Statistics illustrate that the current rates of unemployment in the country have dropped by an additional 8,000 people for the months of May, June, and July, which has brought the overall national total to 2.47 million members of the UK workforce without jobs.
Amidst the good news, the Office for National Statistics also said that the rate of people who instituted new claims with the Jobseekers Alliance actually rose by 2,300 between the months of July and August, bringing the current total to its new figure of 1.47 million people.
REC chief executive Kevin Green commented on the new findings, saying that unemployment rates declining is welcomed news which indicates that the jobs market is stabilising, which coincides with new feedback that has been gathered from recruitment professionals in regards to an increase of activity in hiring for quite a few business sectors.
Mr Green continued, stating that the mixed results as represented by the higher Jobseekers Alliance figures demonstrate that overall there are serious challenges that many groups of job seekers, including umbrella company contractors, may have hard times surmounting, especially for younger workers seeking to break into what has become one of the more competitive labour markets for quite some time.
There is a very urgent need to construct better connections into the employment markets in order to help drive a much-needed restructuring of both the guidance and support frameworks currently on offer, he added.
Mr Green’s gaze turned to the future, stating that there were expectations that unemployment numbers to remain in stasis or to begin a slow incline thanks to the cuts expected to hit the public sector, though he expressed reticence as to the private sector’s ability to pick up the slack; Mr Green cited the September Jobs Outlook for the REC, which showed an increase in cautious hiring intentions as a result of a six month low point in regards to employer confidence, which will most likely repress any expected jobs market growth well into the coming year.
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Image: Mixed signals by mag3737
