Round-up of interesting recruitment news across the country. For this edition, industrial team manager, Katrina Cross, discusses how automation is threatening struggling UK industries as well as looking at the results from the British Chamber of Commerce’s (BCC) recent Workforce Survey.
Automation and struggling industries
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) recently published Workforce of the Future report, 37% of us are worried about losing our jobs to automation in the near future. In recent years there have been a number of well-established industries that have struggled to cope with the emergence of IT and automation.
DVD rentals have been hit hard by the growth of online streaming services to the point that the rental market has been completely wiped out.
Black cab drivers have seen year on year numbers decline across the UK. Companies such as Uber which allows people to hire an on-demand private drivers from their phone has taken a large chunk of the market share.
Independent booksellers are in dramatic decline with over 630 stores closing since 2005. E-commerce giant, Amazon has used aggressive discounting over the years to price local independent retailers out of the market.
Automation is a real concern for companies and those struggling must keep up with technology and implement innovative new ideas to stay ahead of the curve. However, we won’t see a large shift in balance until at least a couple of decades when automation is cheaper to produce for the majority of companies.
To read the Recruiting Times’ full article on the endangered jobs list, here.
Workforce Survey 2017
A recent report from the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) said that 48% of firms had faced skills or labour shortages over the last twelve months. Many people feel that the lack of clarity on the future for EU workers following the Brexit vote has had a direct impact on shortages. Not to mention the fall of the pound against the euro has made the UK a less attractive place to work.
David Williams, Director of Corporate Engagement at Middlesex University in London said: “It is essential that we get clarity around the rights of EU nationals and wider immigration policies going forward, but also support businesses to develop, upskill and retain their workforce through schemes such as apprenticeships.”
Skill shortages means that businesses are forced to spend more resources on filling roles from a shorter pool of candidates in order to find the right person for the job. This is an important decision as a bad hire can be very costly, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) reports that a poor hiring decision could cost a business £132,000 at mid-manager level.
Apprenticeships could be the answer, filling the shortage gap with skilled workers which would allow businesses to build a pipeline of future talent and loyal employees for years to come.
The full version of the British Chambers of Commerce Workforce Survey 2017 is available to read here.