Employers are becoming more confident about hiring new staff and their ability to make investment decisions has improved for the first time since February, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
According to its latest JobsOutlook survey, which involved interviews with 200 UK employers, organizations’ planning to hire permanent staff within the next three months increased from a net +6 in early June to +14, while demand for staff in the next four to 12 months remained at net +12.
Their confidence in making hiring and investment decisions rose to a net +4 in the first half of July, up from a net -9 in June. The positive net figure indicates that more organizations planned to hire staff than reduce headcount.
However, their confidence in the wider economy remained poor at -40. REC said 17% had made redundancies in the year to July 2020, up from 9% in the year to June.
According to its Jobs Recovery Tracker, which looks at the number of vacancies posted from week to week, there were 1.05 million job postings in the UK in the week of 6 to 12 July, up from 990,000 in the last week of June, as more businesses were able to reopen after the lockdown.
REC chief executive Neil Carberry said: “It’s good to see employer confidence rising as the lockdown measures ease – at this stage we would expect things to be getting better month-by-month. Even at times like these, there are always opportunities out there for job seekers.
“But businesses are still very worried about the overall outlook for the economy, and while some are hiring, many are having to make tough decisions around laying people off.
“It’s too early to tell how quickly the economy will recover, but there are steps the government can take to keep firms hiring and boost growth – including a more flexible skills system and a reduction in the government’s payroll tax, National Insurance, to reduce the cost of hiring. Equally, it’s vital that we secure a good Brexit trade deal and deliver a workable immigration system on time to build up confidence and business investment here in the UK.”
With thousands of people having been made redundant throughout the pandemic, competition for jobs is high. Restaurant group D&D London said it had received 1,000 applications for a receptionist role at Manchester restaurant 20 Stories in less than 24 hours.
Director of people Carol Cairnes said: “The sheer number of applicants is staggering, we’ve never seen such a large number come through in such a short amount of time.
“While it means we will have the pick of an incredibly large number of highly qualified candidates, it’s very sad to see how many people are in need of employment.”
Employers hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and businesses with renewed demand are driving hiring in the U.S. jobs recovery.
Businesses such as health-care providers and restaurants—which closed during pandemic lockdowns—have recalled millions of laid-off workers. Job growth has also been boosted by increased demand in a handful of industries such as logistics, financial services, and retail, including at furniture stores.
Hiring jumped in May and June when employers added 7.5 million jobs to payrolls—the best two-month stretch on records back to 1939, according to the Labor Department. This week the total number of online job postings surpassed seven million for the first time since April, according to ZipRecruiter.
Still, gains in job openings flattened in July and are down from 11.4 million in February, and job gains are well short of replacing the 21 million jobs lost in March and April when the pandemic first hit. Recent labor-market readings—including the first increase in weekly jobless claims in nearly four months—also suggest the recovery’s momentum is threatened by the virus’s recent surge.
But employment gains in some pockets of the economy mean job seekers are finding new opportunities, which in turn could result in more people searching for work.
“Employment is still rising in July, but at a slower pace than in May and June,” said Conrad DeQuadros, an economist at Brean Capital LLC. He said he expects to see job gains in industries such as construction and manufacturing, where social distancing is easier, and less of an increase at businesses dependent on public gatherings, such as restaurants and stores.
Health care and logistics are industries with a high demand for new workers, according to ZipRecruiter. Since May 1, 18% of all new job postings have been in the health field and 15% have been in transportation and storage, a sector that is expanding as more consumers purchase goods online.
Capstone Logistics LLC, which operates nearly 560 warehouses across the U.S., has added about 1,500 employees to its staff of roughly 15,000 since the pandemic began.
Chief Operating Officer Rick Tomcho said business shutdowns resulted in significant changes in demand in the spring, with commercial foodservice dropping steeply—but temporarily—and grocery-related work rising sharply.
“We’ve been hiring like crazy,” Mr. Tomcho said. “I don’t see anything that tells me that this volume is going to subside.” He said the company’s average workload volume across all of its warehousing operations and industries is up about 8% from last year.
ZipRecruiter labor economist Julia Pollak said overall hiring is likely to outpace layoffs, despite the rise in coronavirus cases in several states. She expects total payrolls to continue to grow this summer, though at a slower pace than the spring.
“Those gains are entirely accounted for by businesses recalling workers on temporary layoffs,” she said, adding that activity isn’t typically reflected in job postings because employers don’t post jobs to be filled by laid-off employees.