UK employers have become much more pessimistic about recruitment prospects, the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reveals.
Prospects for the next three months have fallen to their lowest level since the survey began two years ago, with only a third of employers expecting employee numbers to increase in the next three months.
While the jobs slowdown continues, UK employers seem as keen as ever to recruit migrant workers – particularly from EU accession countries.
This represents a shift from last year, when employers were shunning workers from accession states in favour of ‘old Europe’ and the rest of the world.
In the latest survey, a quarter of employers say they intend to hire migrant workers this winter, with more than 10% of UK organisations saying they will step up their efforts to recruit migrant workers in the next year. Public sector employers (26%) and employers in London (35%) are those most likely to recruit migrants.
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Separate research from consultancy Watson Wyatt suggests there may be more job candidates on the market in the near future, as employees in the UK are among the most likely in Europe to actively consider leaving their job during the next 12 months.
The survey of nearly 600 employers and more than 8,500 employees from 10 European countries shows that 40% of UK workers would consider leaving their employer in the next year – 5% more than the European average.
