Employment in the UK

In its report, the Careers Advice Bureau revealed that the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance or Unemployment was rising in August confirming a slight but respectable 2.1% increase in the number of people claiming benefits in the month. The Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King has warned that the UK economy could ‘once again hit crisis point’ later in the year. The latest unemployment monitoring report shows that the number of unemployed persons increased by three per cent compared to the last month of June, and by 10.8 per cent compared to the year-to-date.

The survey highlighted that the level of unemployment among graduates continued to fall, despite higher unemployment levels in other healthcare jobs. The number of unemployed graduates fell by 1.5 per cent compared to the last month of May, and by 15.6 per cent compared to the year-to-date.

The survey also showed that there were more vacancies for Practitioners (17.5 per cent), than in any other sector. The number of unemployed healthcare workers almost doubled in the last three months compared to the average monthly unemployment rate for all occupations in the UK over the same period.

There are now 1.6 million more graduates than in jobs in the UK according to the latest BSIS GraduateEmployment survey. This is the highest level of graduate employment in the UK in nearly 30 years. The last time the level of graduate employment was so high was in the late 1970s when the peak of the internal demand for doctors was reached. Although these figures show a steady climb since the late 1980s, the overall level of the profession has not been as recently measured.

The last two months have seen a particularly large increase in the number of part-time working hours. Over sixteen per cent of employees did not work in June, and this figure has risen by 10.3 per cent since April.

The part-time working hours “summary” shows that shading has increased, and is still increasing, particularly for graduates. The average working hours of full-time working part-time employees have increased from 16.7 to 17.9, which is almost twice its average during the three months before the survey started.

Find employment in these times

Finding employment in these times is proving to be even more difficult than ever before. Although the graduate employment rate has remained relatively high, with employment rising in the areas of medicine, law and engineering, the UK workforce has been hit by a double blow. The shortage of graduates in the context of the current labour market poses a serious question regarding future employment. If the current pattern of employment is to be sustained, the UK workforce must strive to match supply with demand and must accentuate its ability to do so. Only then will the inevitable Hyde Model come into its own.