ONS Publish Labour Market Trends July 2006

Labour Market Trends - July 2006 was published today by the ONS (Office for National Statistics). As well as the most up to date data available, this month's edition contains a number of useful articles, covering:

News

Sickness absence

In response to regular requests for data on sickness absence from work in the UK, ONS published a series of tables on 26 May 2006 analysing Labour Force Survey data on this topic. The tables include information on the rates of sickness absence by respondent’s age and sex; age of youngest dependent child; occupation group; region of residence and workplace; workplace size; and by whether the respondent works in the public or private sector. For more information, please read the News section of this month's Labour Market Trends.

Skills shortages in London

A shortage of skilled staff is now the biggest barrier to business in the capital, overtaking transport problems for the first time, the latest Confederation of British Industry/KPMG London Business Survey reveals.

The survey found that 61 per cent of employers are facing skills shortages, a rise from 49 per cent last year, with firms in the property, professional services and transport sectors worst affected. Employers reported that the biggest problem was recruiting staff with specialist skills, but the lack of general skills such as communication and team-working, as well as basic literacy and numeracy deficiencies, was also a concern. The difficulty in recruiting staff with specialist skills may also have had an effect on offshoring, with the proportion of companies moving research and development work overseas doubling over the last year.

The London Business Survey is conducted twice a year and covers over a hundred businesses representing about half a million employees. Other findings from the survey show that 73 per cent of respondents said employment regulation is ‘increasingly restrictive’ or ‘very restrictive’, 58 per cent found tax regulation restrictive and 55 per cent said the same about financial sector regulation. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that London’s high, and rising, house prices were a barrier to the recruitment and retention of staff. Despite these concerns, well over 90 per cent of employers said they felt London was a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ place to do business.

Futureskills Scotland conducts a regular survey of Scottish employer's views, the results of which are published in our "Skills in Scotland" series; these can be found in the What Employers Think section of our website.

ILO analysis of the world labour market

In a new analysis designed to stimulate debate on emerging trends and challenges in the world of work, the International Labour Organization(ILO) said today's labour market is marked by a widening gap between unprecedented opportunity for some and growing uncertainty for many.

The report, entitled Changing Patterns in the World of Work, describes recent trends and future prospects in what it calls an ‘emerging global labour market’. Among its findings, the report shows that the global workforce is growing rapidly. Today, over 3 billion are either working or looking for work, a number that is expected to swell by over 430 million by 2015. Almost all these new entrants will come from developing countries. Hundreds of millions of new jobs will be needed over the next decade. Economies will have to create on average more than 43 million new jobs each year in order to reduce global unemployment, which reached 192 million people in 2005 – its highest level ever – up from 157 million in 1995.

Women constitute 40 per cent of the labour force. From 1991 to 2005 the global female workforce increased from under 1 billion to 1.22 billion, but women still face many obstacles to equal integration in the labour market. In 2004 there were 218 million children engaged in child labour, representing a decrease of 11 per cent over the last four years. The number of people aged 60 years and over is growing faster than all other age groups. Labour force participation rates for women and men above 50 years of age have increased worldwide.

Trends in the global labour market identified by the report include:

• changes in the world labour force;
• shifts in employment due to the evolution of global production systems;
• skills shortages emerging worldwide;
• increasing international labour migration;
• growth of the informal economy;
• discrimination in employment and occupation; and
• growing pressures both for flexibility and security in the labour markets.

The report stresses that there is a major transformation in the world of work with the potential for creating opportunities for all working men and women to have a decent job. ‘Technological progress, if applied in ways that promote inclusion rather than exclusion,’ the report says, ‘could increase productivity and make material poverty history within a generation’.

2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey

Inside the Workplace: Findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004) presents a detailed analysis of the fifth in a series of surveys that examine employment relations in Great Britain. The survey is co-sponsored by the UK Department for Trade and Industry, ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Policy Studies Institute (PSI).

Interviews were conducted with managers and employee representatives in over 3,000 workplaces. Furthermore, over 20,000 employees completed and returned a self-completion questionnaire. The survey links the views from these three parties, providing an integrated picture of employment relations. The results of the survey, together with a report on small and medium-sized firms based on the same survey, were published on 5 July 2006. The book provides an up-to-date portrait of the state of employment relations and working life in Britain, and also examines what has changed inside British workplaces since the 1998 survey was conducted.

The topics covered include:

• the management of employment relations;
• recruitment, training and work organisation;
• employee representation and consultation;
• employee representatives;
• pay determination;
• workplace conflict;
• equality and work-life balance; and,
• workplace climate and performance.

An accompanying report presents a descriptive analysis of employment relations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using data from WERS 2004. This report is based on a subset of interviews with managers in around 600 private sector workplaces that belonged to SMEs. It also draws on a survey of around 5,000 employees working in these establishments. Linking these responses, the survey provides an integrated picture of employment relations.

An analysis is provided of the key features of employment relations and working life in British SMEs. The topics covered range from methods of employee consultation and dispute resolution, through to employers’ attitudes towards worklife balance, employees’ experiences of work and the state of management/employee relations. The report uses the large samples of workplaces and employees to make comparisons both within the SME sector, and between SMEs and large firms.

National Statistics Features

Features this month include:

• Labour Market Gross Flows Data from the Labour Force Survey
• Labour Force Survey Low Pay Estimates: Method of Dealing with Second Job