Last week has seen an unexpected turn of events for the UK economy. After years of economic downturn and increasing numbers of people out of work, the government has announced over the course of the last few days that the total number of unemployed people in the UK dropped by 50,000 to 2.53 million, which equates to just under 4% of the total population of the UK.
The employment figures follow an uptake in employment across almost every sector, demonstrating an increased employer confidence in their ability to recruit, train and maintain staff and at the same time, not affect profits.
What’s more, this is a trend that looks set to continue with several leading survey groups suggesting that in general, the current positive uptake of employment will continue, perhaps with the odd short blip, throughout the period of economic recovery. It has also been suggested that the governments work limiting the liability of employers towards their employees during their initial period of time with the company has helped employers not feel as though they are tied down by legislation.
The headline figure for this news however is that that these figures represent the highest level of employment ever seen in the UK, with more people out at work in our businesses than ever before. We might have had the largest team at the Olympic Games in the Summer and we have now assembled the largest active workforce the country has ever seen. This is a very positive sign for the future as with more people at work, productivity will be increased and this will hopefully see the UK slowly starting to emerge properly from a recession that has been difficult to shrug off.
For jobseekers and those looking for a new challenge however, this represents the best news possible. For those with more employers seeking staff and more activity in the job market it is the perfect time to go out and find something new.
