Recently there has been a lot of media comment about the shortage of applicants for current vacancies, the impact on supply chains and the skills gap. Many commentators argue that these issues are only short term and that once the impact of the post pandemic recovery, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine declines then the labour market will stabilise to pre-pandemic levels.
However, data and insights from leading commentators in the market, for example ONS and ILC, may suggest an alternative view. So, what are the facts?
Current employment is 32.7m about 400,000 lower that the pre-pandemic high. There are currently more than 1.3m active job vacancies across the UK post-pandemic, in addition there are at least 500,000 fewer people in the labour force than was expected due to a combination of people retiring earlier, an increase in long term illness and young people either choosing to extend their education or who are NEET.
What does the future hold?
The population is forecast to grow by between 3.9% and 4.5% in the next 10 years. However, much of the growth is in the under 16 and 65-80 age bands - the economically inactive.
Forecasts predict that in the next 5 years more than 2.7m new jobs will be created with a current shortfall of at least 1 million in the labour force to fill those vacancies.
What changes does business need to make to be able to successfully compete for emerging talent?
Current strategies to engage emerging talent only at 16,18 and 21 to attract applications fails to address the skills gap.
Employers focus on bombarding the talent pipeline with too much information, too late in the process and only focusing on how good their career, training, benefits, culture may be.
Schools and students want to see more businesses playing a part in delivering the curriculum and shaping the skills choices that young people make at 14-17.
Business needs to concentrate on building brand awareness from an earlier age to inform, educate and inspire. Unless you are a brand instantly recognisable by Gen Z attracting sufficient volume and quality of applications is challenging, even for large employers with considerable resources.
Current application and cv processes are at best antiquated and at worst a barrier. Gen Z is the technology generation - businesses need to embrace technology as part of their application process using technology to evidence skills, talent, experience, and character beyond just exam grades. 35% of students will not achieve any meaningful academic grades and too many businesses dismiss this group out of hand.
At globalbridge we are working with many innovative businesses - global brands to small scale start-ups - who are changing the way they engage, inspire, and attract emerging talent...
To find out more email hello@myglobalbridge.com