Over one-third of employers say they are challenging to replace empty positions.
The UK now has 1.3 million open positions, the most since similar data collection started in 2001. That is a 62% increase in available positions since the outbreak.
For the first time in history, there are now as many open positions in the UK as jobless individuals.
As a consequence, the IMF predicts that the UK would see the poorest growth among the G7 world’s wealthiest countries, with the development of only 0.5% in 2023, as opposed to the 2.3% previously predicted just in April.
Which industries have trouble filling positions?
- +107% for lodging and food
- +90% for financial and insurance
- Communication & Information +84%
- technical, scientific, and professional +79%
- Defense & public administration +77%
Why are employers finding it difficult to fill positions?
The hospitality industry, which has the most employment openings, depends on young people to work as servers and bartenders. According to the Institute for Employment Studies, fewer young people are employed due to population decline and an increase in students enrolling in full-time courses due to the epidemic.
Since the outbreak, some elderly employees have just left the labor force and haven’t returned.
Older people may also be prevented from returning to work because long-term health issues are not being addressed due to NHS waiting for lines.
Additionally, Brexit has created legal obstacles between industries like hospitality and a large pool of EU workers.
Out of 67 million individuals, more than 8 million are classified as “economically unviable.”
What can entrepreneurs do?
A Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development poll found that 44% of companies are forced to raise their wages.
Some observers, however, find it hard to cry at the idea of small company owner-managers having to pay their employees more. Many of these openings are in the hotel and retail industries and seasonal agricultural labor, both of which have been called “McJobs” and are not considered rewarding professions. Small business owners have been getting away with it for years by paying the bare minimum and utilizing inexpensive foreign labor.
According to union GMB’s Laurence Turner, director of strategy and research for the BBC’s Newsnight, there has been a period of sluggish pay growth. Employers cannot avoid raising salaries. The government and employers will simply need to grip this nettle.
Thirty-nine percent of firms retrain current employees to take on new positions that need to be filled.
Additionally, 38% of organizations are flexible in their positions.
How long this issue of unfilled jobs will endure is unclear. If any of the worst economic predictions come true, many of these openings may just vanish when companies fail.
