Current News

Fall in jobless total shows jobs market is stabilising, says REC

The REC has reacted to the latest ONS unemployment figures.

Commenting on the figures, Kevin Green, the REC’s Chief Executive, says:

“These figures are good news and reinforce what recruiters have been saying for the last few months - that the UK jobs market has stabilised.  However, the public sector jobs market is also rapidly slowing and we are concerned that this will contribute to a jobless recovery. 

“The REC’s  public sector resourcing campaign underlines the need for more deep-rooted reform to the way services are delivered rather than the kind of knee jerk short term cuts to temporary and permanent staffing which would impact on frontline services.” 

The ONS figures published today have shown another decrease of 33,000 in the overall number to 2.45 million between November and January. People claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 32,330 to 1.59 million last month (February) but at the same time, the number of long-term unemployed rose by 61,000 to 687,000. 

The REC’s March JobsOutlook showed that employers were showing some uncertainty over their short-term recruitment due to the current political and economic climate. For more details, go to http://www.rec.uk.com/press/news/985 

For more information about the REC’s public sector resourcing campaign, Make It Happen!, visit the website, www.rec.uk.com/resourcing