Ups and downs in the employment market

April 18th, 2024 | Industry News

In a recent global survey, three quarters of employers reported difficulties filling vacancies. This is still better than in 2023, when 77% of employers declared recruitment challenges.

Recruitment management software reveals a number of reasons for such problems – as an example, while 65% of employers say they’re offering more work flexibility, it comes on the back of a series of ‘return to office’ initiatives that have caused difficulties in the workplace and led to some companies finding it harder to recruit. Only 30% of firms worldwide are considering wage increases, while 28% are trying to find new talent pools, using recruitment website design, social media and recruitment agency software to drive innovation and find candidates. Given the gap between cost of living and wage rises, there are several paradoxes in this approach to recruitment that might be inhibiting initiatives.

Given that the most problematic skillsets are IT and engineering, technology is very like to be part of the solution. The best recruitment software for agencies offers a greater engagement and flexibility, can be used to drive social engagement and allows recruiters to automate many tasks, giving them more time to call on their soft skills of identify candidates.

UK employment statistics

In the UK, the labour market has definitely slowed. Demand for new employees has fallen for the sixth time in seven months, and the last two months have seen the biggest decline in demand since 2020. There are advantages to this, in that, as online recruitment software data shows, there are more candidates available to fill roles. Candidate availability has improved every month for over a year. For employers this brings a definite benefit – salary increases have fallen, with the latest range of raises being the lowest for three years.

However, there’s a downside to this too; with salary growth at a 37 month low in the UK, we could be heading for a rise in unemployment or a period in which people see little point in changing jobs, or entering the job market. Because salaries are unattractive, leading to stagnation and a lack of innovation this could, in turn, lead to UK employers finding themselves disadvantaged in the global marketplace because they lack the capacity to attract top talent and because a demotivated workforce can lack focus and motivation.