Eighty-six per cent of employers intend to recruit staff this autumn in a sign that caution is not being heeded in the wake of the ‘credit crunch’.
The latest quarterly CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey finds a surprising degree of optimism amongst employers about short and medium employment prospects.
Just under half of respondents plan on taking on additional staff this quarter, a figure that compares to just 39 per cent who were prepared to do the same in the summer.
Recruitment intentions remain buoyant in private sector services, where 59 per cent of employers intend to recruit additional staff. However, only 25 per cent of employers in public services expect to recruit additional staff.
In addition, 49 per cent of employers surveyed anticipate recruitment difficulties this quarter (unchanged from the spring quarter). Meanwhile, the proportion of employers intending to make some staff redundant has fallen from 20 per cent to 17 per cent since the summer survey. In 49 per cent of cases, 10 or more employees will be made redundant.
John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: “Despite the evident optimism in this quarter’s survey it remains likely that the demand for labour will ease during the course of 2008, as the impact of recent interest rates rises and the aftermath of the credit crunch is felt throughout the economy.”
