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"Plenty of jobs, not enough skills" says Manpower

"UK job prospects for the second quarter are positive with a Net balance of +16% of employers looking to add to their payrolls. However, the current skills shortage and low unemployment levels make finding staff difficult," says Hazel Detsiny, Director at Manpower.

Commenting on the release of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, Detsiny adds: "For the last four years, our data has shown stable hiring intentions for the second quarter in the UK. This year, the Net Employment Outlook or balance of employers planning to take on staff is at +16%, the year before it was at +17%, likewise in Q2 2002 and Q2 2001. We're also hearing anecdotal evidence from employers that whilst they are voicing their intent to hire, they often find it hard to find suitable candidates with the right skills and qualities to fill a number of these vacancies."

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey provides a forecast of employer hiring intentions for the quarter ahead: April to June 2004. 2,500 UK employers were surveyed in the UK and over 35,000 employers in 19 countries globally. The Net Employment Outlook¹ for the UK in Q2 is +16%, calculated from the 5% of employers planning to decrease staffing levels subtracted from the 21% planning to increase staffing levels. When seasonal variations are taken into account, the Outlook is +13%.²

Continues Detsiny, "The Learning and Skills Council's recent survey showed that half of employers who reported having vacancies said that at least one of these vacancies was hard to fill. With unemployment rates the lowest since 1984, companies are going to have to attract staff through top class benefit programmes as well as invest in their workforces through training and development programmes to retain existing talent."

Across the UK, all of the nine industry sectors surveyed by Manpower are planning to take on staff next quarter. Community and Social sector, which includes job prospects in health and education, is reporting a particularly optimistic hiring outlook, with a Net outlook of +20%. According to Detsiny, whilst employers in this sector have the highest hiring intentions they also have a high proportion of hard to fill vacancies.

The Hotel and Retail sector - a good indicator of employment levels affected by the tourism industry - continues to produce strong results with a Net outlook of +16%. This result is up on the average reported by employers in the sector, for the last 13 years. The Manufacturing sector, with employers reporting a Net Employment Outlook of +4%, suggests that recent reports of a recovery are not translating into employment.

Employers in all of the twelve regions surveyed intend to take on more staff for the quarter ahead. Employers in the West Midlands are most optimistic reporting a Net Employment Outlook of +32%. Conversely, employers in the East Midlands reported a more conservative forecast with a Net Outlook of +8% suggesting an East/West divide for jobs in the Midlands. Following the West Midlands is the South West (+27%), Scotland (+24%), Northern Ireland (+20%) and Wales (+19%). Employers in London are least optimistic of those surveyed, together with those in the East, with Net Employment Outlooks of +7%.

Of the 11 European countries surveyed, all except Germany (-4%), reported positive hiring intentions. The strongest forecasts in Europe are from employers in Sweden (+17%) followed by the UK and then Austria (+11%). German employers predict that they will be reducing rather than adding to their payrolls. However, this quarter's results do mark a considerable improvement for the German labour market from three months ago (up 10 points from -14%).

Looking at the results from a global level, 18 of the 19 countries surveyed by Manpower are anticipating positive Employment Outlooks for the three months ahead. Newcomer to the survey, New Zealand (+39%), reported the most buoyant forecasts followed by Canada (+24%), the United States (+22%) and Japan (+20%).

Comments Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman & CEO of Manpower Inc.: "This quarter's survey results suggest that we have reached the inflection point for the labour market to gain some long-awaited momentum, and that employers across many countries are reaching this point simultaneously. This reflects the growing synchronization of our interdependent economies."

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