Business confidence has deteriorated significantly since the EU referendum, but employers say they need to hire more staff to meet demand, according to the latest Jobs Outlook survey.
A third (34 per cent) of employers surveyed in the three months to August say they have no capacity to take on more work without hiring more staff, while 43 per cent say they have only ‘a little’ spare capacity and would need to grow their workforce in order to meet an increase in demand.
More than a fifth (22 per cent) of businesses plan to take on more permanent staff in the next three months. Only 4 per cent expect to decrease their permanent workforce in the same period.
The survey of 602 employers also reveals:
- A quarter (25 per cent) plan to take on more permanent staff in the medium term (4-12 months)
- Permanent and temporary vacancies in engineering and tech, construction, and health and social care are particularly difficult to fill due to a shortage of suitable candidates
More than a quarter (27 per cent) of public sector employers have made redundancies in the last year, compared to 16 per cent of private sector employers.
Comment from Steve Young (Sept 2016) – We have found the demand for both temporary and permanent staff in the local Thame area to be quite strong for the whole of this year. Demand for temporary staff has dropped slightly in September but permanent vacacancies are still quite strong.
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