International news in brief: British employed for low-paid jobs

French employers are looking to recruit British staff in ski resorts because the wages are too low for locals. There are currently 23,000 vacancies, including positions for waiters and manual staff. The situation will exacerbate the recruitment problem in the UK’s hotel and catering sector. French employees are said to be reluctant to work for £600 a month

European recruitment agencies could create four million jobs across Europe over the next decade although this would require considerable deregulation, according to the International Confederation of Temporary Work Businesses. At its conference in Brussels, Tim Nicholson, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said that Europe is looking towards the UK as an example of what can be achieved in recruitment.

Hourly compensation costs for manufacturing production staff in countries including Mexico, and Taiwan increased at a faster rate than in the United States in 1999, according to the US Department of Labour. In Mexico the 15.2 per cent increase in compensation costs was the second highest of the 28 countries studied after New Zealand.

http://stats.bls.gov/