Things change, and businesses need to respond to the local labour market situation as it develops. This section shows what has happened in the last ten years, and what the predictions are for the future. It covers three main topics:
The economic activity rate shows the proportion of the population of working age who are either in employment or looking for employment at any particular point in time. This includes both those who are employed and those who are unemployed, but not those people who are not actively looking for work – such as housewives or people who have taken early retirement.
In the East of England economic activity is consistently higher than the national average. Over the last ten years, the difference has changed little. In the East of England economic activity is currently around 82%, over three percent higher than the national average.
The East of England has also seen a considerable reduction in unemployment, as measured through the claimant count – people who are registered unemployed and claiming Jobseekers Allowance. The figure below shows the claimant count for March of each year for GB and the East of England. The pattern for the East of England has been very similar to that in the country as a whole. It declined sharply from 1996 to 2002, before stabilising. Since 2005 it has increased slightly. The claimant count in the East of England has been consistently below that in the country as a whole.
The graph below shows the change in employment in three types of industries between 1998 and 2004 in the East of England. The clearest growth was in the service sector, with around 190,000 extra jobs. There were also around 14,000 new jobs in agriculture and construction. 83,000 jobs were lost in “production” – generally these were in manufacturing. Overall, however, there was a gain of over 121,000 jobs in the region.
Source: Annual Business Inquiry
According to the Skills in England 2004 Report, commissioned by the Learning & Skills Council, between 2003 and 2012 the east of England is likely to see a very strong growth in demand for managers and senior officials, associate professional / technical occupations, personal service occupations, and associate professional and technical occupations. A decline is expected in elementary occupations and process, transport and machine operatives.
The survey suggests that the largest percentage increases will be:
a 41.5% increase in Caring Personal Service occupations (this equates to an additional 56,000 jobs),
a 40.7% increase in Customer Service occupations (this equates to an additional 15,000 jobs),
33.2% increase in Culture, Media and Sport occupations (this equates to an additional 19,000 jobs), and
a 30.3% increase in Protective Service occupations (this equates to an additional 10,000 jobs).
There will be relatively large losses in:
Skilled Metal and Electrical Trades (-23.5%) and
Secretarial and Related occupations (-21.3%).
In terms of numbers, they predict the largest increases will be:
75,000 additional Corporate Managers,
56,000 people working in Caring Personal Service occupations,
25,000 Science and Technology Professionals, and
24,000 Business and Public Service Associate professionals.
The largest losses will be:
32,000 jobs in Elementary occupations (clerical and services-related),
28,000 jobs in Skilled Metal and Electrical trades,
20,000 jobs in Secretarial and Related occupations, and
17,000 in Administrative and Clerical occupations.
What does this tell us?
It could be argued that, with the decrease in the secretarial and clerical related occupations, there is an opportunity to provide this group with the skills to take on more technical and professional roles within your organisation.
Similarly, the increases in corporate managers suggests a need to build on the management skills of existing staff to enable them to fill these positions.
In 2003, as part of the East of England Future Workforce Initiative, The Akenham Partnership and The Work Foundation carried out a telephone survey of 62 of firms employing ICT staff within the Cambridge to Ipswich Hi-Tech Corridor. The survey sought to establish the ICT skills requirements of organisations within the corridor, how these skills are sourced, and what information companies use to manage the recruitment and retention of these skills.
Small businesses were the main respondents, with nearly three-quarters (74%) of responses coming from firms employing fewer than 50 people.
These businesses can also be broken down into types of business. Just over three-quarters (77%) were technical based companies in various different sectors. Over a quarter of all the respondents, both technical and non-technical, described themselves as being based in the Finance & Business Services sector.
The business outlook for the organisations interviewed was predominantly favourable. Nearly half (47%) of all respondents reported that their profit after tax had gone up during the last three years, with just under a quarter (23%) reporting that their profits had remained stable.
However, 24 per cent of respondents stated that their profits had declined over the past three years. This is broadly reflected in reports about market share, with just over half (52%) of respondents reporting that their market share had increased during the last three years. 19 per cent said that their market share had stayed the same, with a further 13 per cent reporting a decline.
In terms of company growth, three-fifths of respondents reported recruiting up to 4 new recruits in the last year, with a further 21 per cent reporting the recruitment of between 5 and 10 recruits. This finding is supported by e-skills’ Regional Gap survey in 2002, which found that 27% of companies in the East of England planned to grow over the next year.