Week Starting 28th July

Business Confidence Low But Employers Looking to Recruit

Whilst business confidence levels have undoubtedly slumped, 4 out of 5 employers are apparently either planning to take on additional staff or keep numbers at the same level. The latest Recruitment Confidence Index (RCI) from Cranfield University and the Daily Telegraph shows that recruitment confidence is on the rise in most sectors apart from manufacturing.

The report says employers are cautiously optimistic having concluded that things can only get better.

Latest Pension & Savings Survey Overtaken By Events

In March 2002 the Office of National Statistics surveyed some 1200 people of working age about their attitudes to pensions and saving for retirement and the findings have just been published*. However, in the light of what has happened in the pensions and savings scene since that time, some of its findings now appear suspect.

For instance its finding that 2 out of 3 of those surveyed thought that putting money into a pension was the most secure way to save for retirement. Or that just under 50% had little or no knowledge of pension matters – unless you subscribe to the view that at the mere mention of the word ‘pension’ half the population’s minds instantly close-up.

To remind ourselves, in March 2002 talk of a pensions crisis had barely started, fewer final salary schemes had been closed to new entrants and the black hole in company pension schemes was estimated to be £10 billion. Since then there have been acres of newsprint and hours of broadcasting time devoted to the subject; we have had both the Sandler and Pickering reports; The Government’s Green Paper on Pensions and Work; more final salary schemes have been closed to new entrants and also to existing employers; millions of people with private pensions have received pension forecast statements and the black hole in company schemes is now estimated to be closer to £200 billion. It seems reasonable to assume that as a result of all these things general knowledge of the subject has increased.

Notwithstanding those reservations, the report’s findings still make interesting reading for policy makers and others interested in the subject. For instance, of those surveyed:

A summary of the report ‘Pensions 2002: Public attitudes to pensions and saving for retirement’ can be downloaded from www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/

Week Starting 21st July

Work After 60

TAEN and Help the Aged have published a new paper by Patrick Grattan ‘Work After 60 – choice or necessity, burden or benefit?. It sets out the main changes that will be needed and provides ways that employers, individuals and government can contribute to changing patterns of work and retirement.

Click here to download a copy of the publication.
Click here to see the Press Release.

Retain Older Nurses Or Suffer A Severe Staffing Crisis

New research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that the NHS is heading for a staffing crisis unless it makes greater efforts to retain and recruit older nurses. Currently about a quarter (circa 145,000) nurses are in their 50s and another 1 in 3 will turn 50 in the next 10 years. Almost 10,000 nurses over 50 retire each year. In the past 10 years the number of nurses under 30 has dropped from 25% to 10%.

The researchers (from Hull University) found that the Government’s recruitment and retention drive paid little attention to older nurses’ needs. Older nurses receive little or no information about options for staying on in the NHS and their pension scheme discriminates against those who might want to take a less stressful, lower grade job as they approach retirement.

Some managers admitted they prefer to employ younger nurses or to attract them from overseas. Despite staffing problems, they do not design campaigns to attract older nurses to return to or remain in the profession, little attention has been given to the scope for more flexible work arrangements and few hospitals appear to have adopted measures to combat older nurses’ stress.

The report is called ‘Nurses over 50’.

Older Temps On The Increase

According to the recruitment company ‘Office Angels’, 1 in 5 temps is now aged over 45. The figure has gone up by 25% in the past year. The majority say they have chosen temping for flexibility and better work-life balance reasons. 86% of older temps surveyed say that temping offers them the chance to learn new skills and 55% enjoyed the variety of workplaces and experiences it offered.

From the employers side it seems that companies are less concerned about the age of temporary staff than they are for permanent employees.

Manufacturing Sector Continues To Take A Hammering

The relentless decline of the UK’s manufacturing sector is continuing. The CBI’s latest Quarterly Industrial Trends survey reports that domestic orders have now been declining for over 3 years. Despite the fall in the value of the pound versus both the dollar and the Euro which should have given UK manufacturers a competitive advantage, export orders have been falling for the past seven years and last quarter they fell at their fastest rate for 18 months.

Firms do not expect to see any improvement in orders or output till later this year and are relying on a pick-up in the US economy to trigger a gradual recovery in the UK.

Meanwhile over the past 3 months job shedding has continued, although at a slightly lower rate than had been previously forecast.

Week Starting 14th July

Part-Time Jobs Responsible For Employment Increase

The latest employment figures released this week show the number of people in work has increased by 100,000 people in the past 3 months but the increase was virtually all in part-time jobs. Overall there are now 27.9 million people in work in the UK and just over 7.2 million (26%) are in part-time work.

The number of people in work has risen by 1.5 million since Labour came to office in 1997 and is up by 254,000 in the past year. The overall employment rate now stands at 74.7%.

The employment rate for those aged 50 to state pension age has increased by 1.5% in the past year (up by 205,000). This is the biggest increase for any age group, however at 69.5% it is still 12.5% below the rate for 35-49 year olds.

The unemployment claimant rate rose by 1700 last month and stands at 3.1% but the ILO unemployment rate (a.k.a. ‘active’ job seekers) fell slightly and now stands at 5% (1.47 million).

The number of vacancies fell during the last 3 months and are down by 3% versus the same period last year.

Commenting on the figures the new Minister for Work, Des Browne, said, “We have been successful in reducing long term unemployment to historically low levels. But there are still 4 million adults claiming other benefits. Many would like to return to work; my aim is to provide the right mix of help and support that allow them to realise their ambitions.”

No mention of help for the so-called economically inactive – a million or more of whom are over 50 – who are not claiming benefits but who would like to work.

The new Minister’s thrust clearly remains ‘Welfare to Work’ – which is why Jobcentre Plus Personal Advisers and offices score minimum points for helping those not on benefits back into jobs. As we all know ‘points mean prizes’.

The radical approach would be to focus on the lost opportunity benefits/reduced GDP impact on the country and to enable non-benefit claimants to access the same into-work support available to claimants.

Women More Likely To Work On Till State Pension Age

A study of workers over 50 reveals that women who are in relatively good, full-time, permanent jobs are more likely to remain in them up to their state pension age than men.

The researchers found that men over 50 were more likely to decide to leave permanent, full-time work if they had been with their employer long enough to accumulate savings, a good pension entitlement and if they had paid off their mortgage. They also found that low earning men were particularly likely to exit the labour market because of health problems.

They found that the older people were when they left full-time, permanent employment the less likely they were to move into part-time or temporary working. Men who had paid off their mortgage were less likely to take temporary work, while men supporting dependent children were more likely to become self-employed – partially presumably as a way of combating the ageism they encountered when applying for other jobs.

Men who did move into part-time employment experienced a substantial drop in hourly rates, whereas women enjoyed an increase. Women working part-time expressed higher levels of job-satisfaction when compared with their female peers in full-time work and experienced almost the same levels of job security.

The report ‘Employment Transitions of Older Workers : the role of flexible employment in maintaining labour market participation and promoting job quality’ was written by S. Lissenburgh and D. Smeaton of the Policy Studies Institute.

Regional Labour Market Changes

At 7.1%, London now has the highest official unemployment rate* of any region in the U.K., followed by the North East with 6.5% and the West Midlands with 6%. The region with the lowest rate is the South West with 3.6%.

The regions with the lowest employment rate are the North East at 68.1% (down 1.1% over the past year) and London at 70% (down 0.5%).

Employment rates in Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland and Northern England – with the exception of the North East – have all increased in the past year, whilst those for London, the East of England, South East and South West have all fallen.

* The ILO unemployment figure calculates those who are unemployed, have actively searched for work in the previous 4 weeks and would be ready to start a new job within 2 weeks, in addition to those on Job Seekers Allowance.

Week Starting 7th July

Skills Strategy Removes Age Cap From Modern Apprenticeships

One of the changes announced in the new National Skills Strategy White Paper is the removal of the age cap on Modern Apprenticeships in England. TAEN has been campaigning for an all–age approach to be adopted in England for some time. It already applies in Scotland and was announced in Wales last September. Unfortunately it may be a hollow victory because the Government is not presently proposing to put in any extra money to fund Modern Apprenticeships for those aged over 25.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education and Skills said, “We want to wait and see how it pans out before adding any extra money to the pot. We can’t say currently whether there will be any extra money available, it is up to the SSCs (Sector Skills Councils) to put forward proposals.”

Currently employers receive up to £14,500 to fund a Modern Apprenticeship for a 16-18 year old. The figure nearly halves for a 19-24 year old and there is no funding for those over 25. Our campaign goes on…(Click here to see press release).

Skills Strategy Seeks To Tackle UK’s Low Skill Base

Gordon Brown has said that “Skills are Britain’s Achilles Heel”, so the new National Skills Strategy is supposed to tackle the problem. It is introducing free learning for any adult who does not already have a full NVQ level 2 qualification (5 GCSEs or equivalent). It will also provide new opportunities to adults to gain NVQ level 3 qualifications (2 ‘A’ levels or equivalent) in technician, higher craft or trade skills in regional or sectoral skills shortages areas.

A new £30 a week grant will be available for adult learners in priority groups to support them in studying full time in Further Education courses.

The Adult Basic Skills campaign will be expanded to make Information and Communications Technology (ICT) the third ‘essential skill’ for life alongside literacy and numeracy.

Adult Information, Advice & Guidance services will be reformed to help adults into learning and ensure that individuals can can find out what to learn, where to learn and what they are entitled to.

However, whilst there is much that is promising in the White Paper, according to the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) –a TAEN member – the major concern is that the Government does not seem to have taken enough count of the implications caused by our changing demography. “An ageing workforce, new pensions arrangements, migrants and women returners joining the labour force in larger numbers will all have implications for adult learning in Britain in the coming decade.”

Majority Keen To Work On Past State Pension Age

A new survey conducted by NOP for Help the Aged reveals that over 7 out of 10 (73%) older people who currently have jobs would be interested in working beyond state pension age in those jobs if flexible or shorter hours were available. Moreover, nearly 80% of those currently working aged 50-64 would be interested in working part-time in retirement.

The survey also reveals that nearly 6 out of 10 of those polled would be interested in deferring their state pension till 70 - if it meant they would receive the £20,000 lump sum the Government proposed in last December’s Pensions Green Paper.

The Government has recognised that in order to encourage flexible retirement practices, it needs to change the inland revenue regulations which currently prevent employees drawing a salary and pension from their employers at the same time. The problem is the regulations seem unlikely to be amended until the Budget in Spring 2005. TAEN thinks that is too long to wait and calls on the Government to make the change it next year’s Budget – if not sooner.

Women’s Pension Disadvantage

The central conclusion of a new report is that the Government’s present policy of allowing state pensions to decline, whilst increasing reliance on occupational and other private pensions, will perpetuate the disadvantage that women face in providing adequately for their retirement.

The report’s author – Dr Jay Ginn – writes, “ Women’s typical sequence of paid and unpaid roles over the course of their lives limits their ability to accumulate private pensions. At the same time the levelling effect of state pensions is being eroded.”

The report shows that :

• For the majority of women, their private pension disadvantage – and hence their risk of poverty in later life - is unlikely to diminish in future. At the same time, new patterns of pension disadvantage are emerging, influenced by partnership status, parenthood, class and ethnicity.

• Single women aged over 65 are 7 times more likely to receive any private pension income compared to women who were ever married. However, this ‘single’ premium is greatly reduced for mid-life women and almost disappears in the younger generation.

• The biggest impact of motherhood on private pension prospects occurs for mid-skilled women – those educated to GCSE level. They comprise about one third of working age women and the proportion is rising. Women graduates are least effected by the impact of motherhood but even so, the earnings of those with a pre-school child are on average only 44% of the earnings of childless graduates and this has negative consequences for pension contributions.

• The adverse effect that raising a family has on women’s private pension coverage is magnified for lone mothers. Divorced women aged 20-39 are half as likely to have private pension coverage than married women.

• Divorced women only begin to catch up on pension building once their children are independent but they remain at high risk of poverty in later life.

Whilst last December’s Pensions Green Paper recognised the special issues facing women in terms of pensions, the Government hasn’t done anything specific to address them yet – other than the general changes of the Pensions Credit scheme due to come into effect in October.

Dr Ginn’s report is called ‘Gender, Employment and Pension Acquisition : Trends and International Comparisons’. Dr Ginn is Co-director of the Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender at the University of Surrey. The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Local Newspapers Still Favoured By Recruiters

The CIPD’s recently issued Recruitment and Retention report (see associated story below) shows that 83% of employers use local newspaper advertising to fill their vacancies. Over 70% also use specialist journals or the trade press and 63% advertise through national newspapers.

Just over 7out of 10 employers use commercial employment agencies whilst the percentage using Jobcentres has fallen to 40% - down from 62% last year.

Over 70% advertise their vacancies on their organisation’s own websites – up from 50% last year.

The survey’s findings were based on responses from 550 recruitment specialists, personnel managers in large organisations and line managers in small firms.