The UK continues to struggle with labour shortages despite the estimated number of vacancies falling on the quarter, data released today from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown.
April’s labour market overview revealed that between January and March 2023, the estimated number of vacancies fell for the ninth consecutive period – by 47,000 on the quarter to 1,105,000.
The ONS said the figures reflected the continued uncertainty across industries, “as survey respondents continue to cite economic pressures as a factor in holding back on recruitment”.
Overall, UK economic growth has been flat since spring last year, with the effects of high energy prices and rising interest rates taking their toll, along with strikes in several sectors.
There were 348,000 working days lost because of labour disputes in February 2023, up from 210,000 in January 2023. Over three-fifths of the strikes in February were in the education sector.
In terms of the local data in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, more than one in five adults in the West Midlands are out of the workplace, with ‘economic inactivity’ significantly increasing in the region.
Latest regional labour market statistics show that the West Midlands saw the largest increase in the economic inactivity rate compared with the same period last year, up by 2.2% to 22.7%.
Meanwhile the unemployment rate for the quarter from December 2022 to February 2023 compared to the previous three months rose to 4.6% while the employment rate across the region fell by 0.8% to 73.7%.
The significant proportion of West Midlands residents leaving the workforce over the past year places further pressure on a relentlessly tight labour market. In our latest Quarterly Economic Survey (Q1 2023), 52% of businesses attempted to recruit staff over the last quarter and 69% of businesses had experienced recruitment difficulties. There were also a number of comments from businesses expressing their concern in finding suitable staff for their vacancies.
Therefore, it is vital that the government implement the policies set out in the recent Spring Budget regarding support for working parents around childcare costs and pension reform which will hopefully bring more people back to the labour market. The expansion of the government’s ‘Skills Bootcamps’ for over 50’s will offer free training to address the current skills shortages in the labour market.