Unemployment is steadily declining, in fact it fell by 99,000 in the three months ending October 2013 which was the largest quarterly fall for a decade (the last recorded figures). Currently there are 2.39 million unemployed (7.4%) the lowest rate since 2009. However, a large proportion of the unemployed are permanently unfit to work. Further, unemployment is expected to continue to decline over the next few years as the economy grows and this will without doubt present problems to businesses which are growing and need more employees.

Hugh-Billot30.9 million people are in employment, a record high. The current level of employment is up 485,000 in just a year and some economists are suggesting that another one million could be employed in the next 12 to 18 months.

A record 1.1 million pensioners are still working into retirement years. With a changing culture of working longer and poor pensions or rock-bottom annuity rates, the number of people over 65 years of age working on is likely to increase providing a source of knowledgeable and skilled workers.

So where are employers going to find the workers they need to fuel their own growth? This is as they say the $64,000,000 question. There is no question that the vast majority of employers will have to attract new employees away from employment in other companies to staff their own businesses. This will become increasingly more difficult and for a number of reasons: pay rates are rising again (average pay was up 2% in 2013 and is forecast to grow by 2.5% in 2014; many employers will increase pay by more than average to protect their best staff; most employers have now enrolled their employees into pension schemes which have a conditioning effect on employee stability; the feel good factor as businesses perform better tends to influence employees to stick around and benefit from the good times, just to mention a few.

A major study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that the three most successful routes to attract applicants were via; the corporate website; a recruitment agency and employee referral. The latter two have the personal touch and could well be the most effective in tight labour markets for 2014. In particular, the recruitment agency has the added benefit of being able to source applicants immediately and is aware of those who actively wish to change jobs and even those who are immediately available for interview and placement so assisting companies to minimise lost productivity caused by hiring delays. Often the promptness of the recruitment agency enables companies to offset any placement fee by avoiding the disruptions that staff shortages cost.

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Whatever approach organisations take to staffing, some manpower planning and selection of hiring methods at the beginning of the year will serve them well.

Dr Hugh Billot, Deputy Chairman

HR GO Group of Recruitment Companies

HR GO Recruitment offers solutions to all your staffing needs, temporary and permanent, please call 0845 130 7000

www.hrplustraining.co.uk

www.hrgo.co.uk

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