Relevant skills still vital in getting jobs market moving, says REC

Up-skilling workers to undertake jobs in areas where talent shortages are still being experienced must be made a top priority if the UK economy is going to pull clear of another economic dip, says the REC.

The latest Report on Jobs, published by the REC and KPMG, showed an upturn in both permanent and temporary staff placements over the past month, bucking the downward trend of the past few months.

Commenting on the current state of the jobs market ahead of the Office of National Statistics’ figures, Roger Tweedy, the REC’s Director of Research, said:

“With the public sector squeeze is still to be fully felt, the jobs market remains fragile. However, confidence is slowly increasing among private sector employers, which bodes well for 2011. The feedback from recruiters in many sectors is that the main challenge is going to be a lack of suitably skilled candidates for some of the specific opportunities that are starting to open up. 

“Current jobs market dynamics have confirmed shortages in areas such as IT and engineering. The mismatch between available skills and employer demand could provide a hindrance to a private sector-led economic revival. As well as looking at ways of boosting job creation, we need to ensure that we are building an effective pipeline of suitable skilled workers.”

The REC’s December JobsOutlook due to be published later this week will also say that continued jobs market stability is driving increased employer optimism into 2011.

Source the REC