Labour Market

With more than one million vacancies currently available much more needs to be done to close the skills gap and improving numeracy sits at the very heart of that.

Attempted recruitment during Q3 was up on previous quarters with 61% overall attempting to recruit (52% in Q2). However, this uptick was followed by large increases in the proportion of respondents reporting difficulty in

Recruitment difficulties are likely to dampen the recovery by limiting firms’ abilities to fulfil orders and meet customer demand. Business investment will then suffer, curbing any chance of a prolonged recovery.

BCC President, Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE said: “Government has made clear its priority is to transition from a reliance on EU workers to a focus on the domestic workforce, and businesses have been ready

The jobs market has continued its summer revival as demand for workers has surged following the easing of Covid restrictions. But record vacancies also highlight the acute hiring crisis faced by many firms.

BCC calls for government to extend skills training as new research showed nearly 1 in 5 companies are considering staff redundancies as the next phase of furlough tapering begins.

BCC says it is great news that Accredited Chambers will be leading all eight of the Department for Education's pilot schemes to develop local skills training provision.