UK employment confidence continues to surge - CIPD

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From the 17th of May, coronavirus restrictions across England, Wales and most of Scotland will ease*, with indoor entertainment and attractions, hospitality venues and holiday accommodation all set to reopen. As a result, many employers are planning recruitment drives, with some looking to hire at the fastest rate in eight years, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says.

According to the CIPD’s latest Labour Market Outlook Survey**, ‘employment confidence has continued its upward surge this quarter’. Indeed, the net employment intentions balance – which measures the difference between the proportion of employers expecting to add jobs and those planning to cut them – rose sharply in the second quarter of 2021, to 27. This is up 16 points over the winter quarter and is higher than at any time since the CIPD’s winter 2012/13 report when this measure was first introduced.

Furthermore, employers across all three major sectors of the UK economy are optimistic, including the private sector ( 28), voluntary sector ( 28) and the public sector ( 22), highlighting how most organisations are predominantly looking to recruit, not make positions redundant. In fact, just 12% of employers signalled that they expect to make job cuts in the next three months, down from 20% last quarter.

The Healthcare ( 54) and ICT ( 37) sectors remain the most confident in terms of employment, retaining the top spots among the sectors.
There’s similar good news when it comes to pay, with median basic pay expectations bouncing back to 2%, having stayed at 1% during the last four quarters.

Speaking about the research, Gerwyn Davies, CIPD Senior Labour Market Analyst, said: “Taken together, the short-term jobs and pay outlook is more positive compared with the situation three months ago and closely reflects the levels of employer optimism about jobs and pay reported before the pandemic.”

* https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-coronavirus-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do
** https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/work/trends/labour-market-outlook#gref