UK businesses finding it tough to hire skilled workers owing to Brexit

UK business houses are finding it difficult to hire skilled workers in professional positions in sectors such as banking and engineering as net migration is declining, a new survey revealed.

The news will aggravate fears of skills’ shortage in the post-Brexit UK as the number of vacancies rose, while the country is already experiencing full employment.

One of UK's leading professional recruitment industry bodies, the APSCo (Association of Professional Staffing Companies), found that placement for professional employment rose by five percent in the six month ending August, compared with the same period in 2016.

Increases in vacancies were most conspicuous in finance and banking sector, as they grew by 12 percent growth during the same period. On the other hand, the number of jobs in engineering and construction sector increased by 10 percent.

The Independent quotes APSCo as saying that its members were finding it tougher to find quality talent, though salary grew considerably in certain markets.

Companies said that they had increased wages more than was revealed in the recent official data. When compared to a year ago, skilled workers in finance and banking were earning 4.8 percent more and engineering roles 3.8 percent more, the survey revealed.

APSCo attributed the skills’ shortage to the sudden decline in net migration, which fell by 81,000 to 246,000 in the year ended March. On the other hand, the official unemployment rate in Britain slid to a 42-year low of 4.3 percent in July.

Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, was of the view that net migration affects all flexible working roles and not just blue-collar workers. She added that the professional services sector was always dependent on migration for new talent areas.

Citing the example of IT, engineering and healthcare, Swain said that the decrease in migrating talent is turning into a major challenge for employers as well as recruiters.

John Nurthen, of consultancy firm Staffing Industry Analysts, which gathered the data for the APSCo, said that many companies were now striving to retain workers who had taken a decision to leave by offering them more pay because they are finding it harder to find eligible candidates in the workforce.

Research, which was published in June, revealed that more than half of the skilled workers from EU at the UK’s FTSE 250 companies were already thinking of leaving the UK. In a survey conducted by law firm Baker Mackenzie, 56 percent of the EU

respondents said that they were ‘highly likely’ or ‘quite likely to leave the country before the Brexit talks conclude.

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