Midlands employment prospects bleak for the New Year

THE first quarter of 2011 is set to be a challenging time for employers in the West Midlands with a new report suggesting new hirings are likely to be negative for the 10th quarter in a row.

However, signs of a pickup in crucial manufacturing sectors such as automotive and aerospace may bode well for later in the year.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, produced by employment organisation Manpower, suggests employers in the region intend to reduce staffing levels during the first three months of 2011 with a seasonally adjusted net employment outlook of minus 5%.

A net employment outlook is calculated by subtracting those employers which plan to reduce staffing levels from those which plan to hire staff. A positive result indicates that more employers plan to increase rather than decrease staffing levels; a negative result reflects the opposite.

The West Midlands’ net outlook of minus 5% represents no change quarter-over-quarter but a 4% improvement year-over-year. The outlook is significantly lower than the national average, which currently stands at plus 2% following its first improvement in 12 months after a stagnant year at plus 1% in 2010.  
 
Greg Hollis, operations manager at Manpower, said: “While we are not seeing high volumes of new businesses emerge or aggressive market growth, labour market conditions in the West Midlands are holding relatively steady.

“As a business, we are currently seeing some increase in the number of temporary and permanent roles that are available locally, as well as growing levels of activity within automotive, aviation, household and retail manufacturing – which is good news for jobseekers as well as for the local economy.”
 
Manpower said that looking at the picture as a whole, the disparity in employer hiring intentions between the 12 UK regions was now more severe than at any point during the recession.

Regions traditionally home to labour intensive workforces – such as the manufacturing industry in the West Midlands – are all showing negative hiring intentions with Northern Ireland, the North East and Scotland reporting hiring prospects of minus 7%, 6% and 12% respectively.

Meanwhile, the western regions of the country are enjoying positive hiring intentions, with the South West proving to be a hotspot at plus 13%, the North West at plus 6% and Wales at plus 9% – its first return to positive hiring prospects since Q3 2008. In London, employers also expect to increase staffing levels over the next three months, with an outlook of plus 3% reported.
 
“Now is a pivotal time for shaping the future of the UK’s employment landscape. Employers are reviewing their requirements when appointing new hires, and equally those seeking work must reconfigure their expectations to the reality of the post-recession labour market,” added Mr Hollis.

“There is still some way to go, but those seeking work must focus on retraining, upskilling and gaining on-the-job experience – all of which are beneficial to securing permanent employment.”
 
The survey is based on responses from 2,100 employers across the UK and includes a representative sample from the West Midlands.