UNEMPLOYED SET TO REACH 3 MILLION BUT HR ‘STILL HIGH IN DEMAND’

Gloom is the over-riding mood in recruitment this month as final quarter figures for 2008 were released. John Philpott, Chief Economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) described the final quarter figure of 259,000 made redundant as ‘fairly horrendous’ and predicted: “Unemployment remains on course to rise above three million before the economy recovers.”

Meanwhile, during the last quarter the Monster online recruitment index fell again, and is now at its lowest point since May 2006. Hugo Sellert, Worldwide Head of Economic Research at Monster explained the drop, saying: “The job market is an obvious casualty of the deepening recession. Online advertised vacancies reached a two-and-a-half-year low in January,”

Amid all the bad news, however, it is important to remember that certain sectors are still recruiting and likely to remain stable. Retail remains buoyant, particularly in the grocery sector: Tesco and Asda are both planning more stores, and budget shops like Primark are seeing a boom as the public look for better value.

The public sector has actually seen a rise in employment of 14,000 last year, and HR is claimed to remain in high demand, due to the need for business to manage people better during the recession. Social work, teaching and healthcare are vital services which weather recession well. Another strong sector is oil – and some workers can command high salaries in this field.

Monster supply some good news to those employers recruiting: although 23 percent of people own up to having lied several times at job interviews, the survey claims the majority (58 percent) say they are completely honest at interview.

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