Category: JOBS

-ENDS-Contact:KPMGClaire BarrattDeputy Head of Media RelationsT: +44 (0)7923 439264claire.barratt@kpmg.co.uk RECHamant VermaCommunications ManagerT: +44 (0)20 7009 2129hamant.verma@rec.uk.comS&P GlobalAnnabel FiddesEconomics Associate DirectorS&P Global Market IntelligenceT: +44 (0)1491 461 010annabel.fiddes@spglobal.comHannah BrookEMEA Communications ManagerS&P Global Market IntelligenceT: +44-7483-439-812hannah.brook@spglobal.compress.mi@spglobal.com MethodologyThe KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to a panel of around 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies. Survey responses are collected in the second half of each month and indicate the direction of change compared to the previous month. A diffusion index is calculated for each survey variable. The index is the sum of the percentage of ‘higher’ responses and half the percentage of ‘unchanged’ responses. The indices vary between 0 and 100, with a reading above 50 indicating an overall increase compared to the previous month, and below 50 an overall decrease. The indices are then seasonally adjusted.Underlying survey data are not revised after publication, but seasonal adjustment factors may be revised from time to time...

Westfield White City is the biggest shopping mall in the UK and it is no stranger to crowds of young people parading through its halls. But instead of swarming the retail shops for the latest exclusive fashion drop, the hundreds of people in attendance this weekend are in search of something even more sought after and rarefied: a job.The London job show is the capital’s biggest career event. It is held every year and hosts a range of employers from the Metropolitan police to car valet services. This year, the event is particularly relevant as unemployment levels have soared, with young people bearing the brunt of the crisis.Demi Trowsdale, 24, has a degree in neuroscience and psychology. She has been unemployed for four months and estimates that she has sent off 170 applications online. Her aim is to work in healthcare but after being unsuccessful in applying for jobs in the sector, she has “widened the pool” of potential employment.“It...

Over the past two decades, ageing populations, rising retirement ages and higher education levels have contributed to rising employment rates among workers aged 55 and over across OECD countries. Yet many workplaces are still designed around shorter careers, leading many people to leave work earlier than they need or want to. This deepens the demographic pressures facing ageing societies, including labor shortages, as early exits reduce the number of employees and inflate public welfare and healthcare costs. The OECD argues that employers play a decisive role in enabling longer working lives through hiring practices, access to training, job quality and workplace conditions. To help organizations assess and improve their approach, the OECD recently launched a Longevity Readiness Tool, which benchmarks policies and practices across sectors and countries to identify where action is most needed.The data reveals wide differences in how countries support older workers. In hiring, the United Kingdom ranked highest in Europe in 2023, with people aged 50 and...

The Nigerian experience is physical, emotional, and sometimes international. No one knows it better than our features on #TheAbroadLife, a series where we detail and explore Nigerian experiences while living abroad.  Mike (43) moved to the UK for a master’s degree when he became disillusioned with life in Nigeria. In this story, he shares the struggle of being a mature student in data science, and how a Christmas holiday in the UK turned into a permanent relocation for his family after he secretly applied for jobs on his wife’s behalf. This model is AI-generated and not affiliated with the story in any way Where do you live currently, and when did you leave Nigeria? I currently live in Kent, United Kingdom, and I left Nigeria just after the pandemic in January 2021. Was that your first time leaving the country? No, I have travelled out of the country several times. My spouse and I go on vacation almost every year, but that was the first time...

Demand for nannies, au pairs, sales executives, and delivery drivers has seen a significant surge in recent weeks, according to new research. Conversely, job adverts for roles such as aircraft pilots, air traffic controllers, travel agents, and train drivers have experienced the sharpest decline. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) reported that the total number of new job adverts in April stood at 711,733. That figure represents a 7.7 per cent drop from March and a 5.6 per cent decrease compared to the previous year. The easing momentum in the jobs market is attributed to several factors, including the Easter holidays, rising employment costs, and ongoing uncertainty stemming from the conflict in the Middle East. ...

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreDemand for nannies, au pairs, sales executives,...

Ouch! Taken at face value, the latest UK jobs report is bad pretty much wherever you look. Admittedly, some of it looks more like noise than signal. Take the 100,000 drop in payrolled employment. That is a big number, but one that will almost certainly get revised up. We saw something similar last May, where an initially reported 109k drop was then revised up to a much more modest -14k decline. There are plenty of similar examples in recent history. Still, backward revisions to both February and March are a reminder that the situation is fragile. Weakness has been particularly concentrated in consumer-facing sectors most affected by last year’s tax and minimum wage hikes. That pressure is only likely to be exacerbated by the incoming energy shock. Source link...

Seven in 10 of the UK public are worried about the economic impacts of AI, six in 10 think it will eliminate more jobs than it creates, half think its impact will be worse than a normal recession – and one in five think it will create civil unrest. People are particularly worried about the impacts on entry-level jobs and young people more generally: nearly six in 10 agree with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s 2025 prediction that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years. New research by King’s College London's Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Policy Institute finds that while fear of AI's impact on jobs and society is widespread and cuts across every group, there is somewhat less concern about the impact on people’s own jobs, and some groups are more excited about the positive impacts, particularly employers, men generally and male undergraduate students in particular. The findings are being launched at the King's AI Summit: Workforce...

Lord Wolfson insisted Next had to make a profit. "If you look at retail over the last 25 years... 70 to 80% of the names that were there then have gone. And what you can't do is say, we just won't run the business for profit because if you don't run the business for profit, you just don't stay in business," he said.He also repeated his criticisms of the government's Employment Rights Act, warning one aspect of the legislation meant it was "going to get much harder" for Next to offer more hours for its staff.One of the reforms includes a requirement for employers to offer guaranteed hours to casual workers in a bid to curb the use of zero-hours contracts.While not a fan of zero-hours contracts, Lord Wolfson said the new rules reduced the ability to offer extra hours at busy times "because the risk is you then have to contract for those hours forever"."You can't afford to... have...

The boss of Next has sounded the alarm about a “dramatic fall” in the number of entry-level jobs in the UK that is driving up youth unemployment, saying the retailer now receives twice as many applicants for each role than two years ago.Lord Wolfson said the clothing and homeware chain, where he has been chief executive since 2001, typically received 10 applications for every job in its shops in 2024 but that number has now risen to 19.“That doubling of applicants for shop jobs is indicative of just how big the crisis is in youth unemployment at the moment,” he told the BBC.Wolfson’s comments came as a report commissioned by the government is expected to find that Labour has failed to tackle the soaring number of people not in education, employment or training (Neet) and must launch a “system reset” involving a fresh attempt to overhaul health and disability benefits.Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into why almost a...