Response to ONS labour market statistics, December 2021

The ONS published its latest labour market figures this morning. Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, commented:

“These figures confirm that our jobs market has been recovering strongly - including taking the end of furlough in its stride. Temporary work has played a critical role in this - encompassing 6% of employment in these figures, the highest since early 2017.

“The issue of labour shortages is hugely challenging for employers right now, as vacancies continue to hit new highs and unemployment remains low. But the real elephant in the room is rising inactivity and a smaller UK workforce - people either not in the UK or not looking for work. Reflecting this, overall hours worked are still well below our pre-pandemic numbers. This is a huge challenge to business and government. New approaches to recruitment and workforce planning are needed - and genuine partnership between government and employers on skills, unemployment support and sensible immigration rules.

“We don’t know yet how the Omicron variant will affect the jobs market - but it is clear that supporting businesses to retain staff and maintain cashflow was a successful strategy in 2020, and we may need to dust off those plans again if we are headed for a longer period of restrictions.”

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