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Posts Tagged ‘Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’

The rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation fell to 4.2 per cent in December, from 4.8 per cent in November, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This is the third consecutive month that inflation has fallen and December’s figures represents the biggest monthly fall since April 2009.

Inflation is now at its lowest level since June last year and many economists are predicting a continued decline throughout the year.

In November, the Bank of England predicted that inflation would fall below the Government’s inflation target of 2 per cent by the end of this year.

Retailers’ attempts to generate sales by cutting prices in the run-up to Christmas have helped to push inflation down.

The price of clothing and footwear fell by 2.8 per cent between November and December and fuel prices fell by 1.1 pence a litre, although food prices increased by 1.4 per cent.

Although the fall in inflation will help to ease the strain on household incomes, analysts expect consumers to continue to control their spending in the face of continuing uncertainty over jobs and tightening credit conditions.

While there was good news on inflation today, a worrying economic forecast by the Ernst & Young Item Club suggests that the UK economy has fallen into a ‘technical’ recession due to the eurozone crisis and rising unemployment.

The Item Club has cut its GDP growth rate forecast from 1.5% to 0.2% for 2012 and expects unemployment to rise by a further 300,000 this year, to just below three million people

It does not expect the UK economy to recover until CPI inflation drops to 2 per cent late this year.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development expects unemployment to remain above 2.5 million until at least 2016.

Those who think that austerity is the only way to deal with national debts and deficits should take a close look at the employment picture in austerity Britain.

Preliminary data for October show a 900 percent increase in government funded apprenticeships being taken up by people over 60. The apprentice scheme was set up to give youth a chance to get on the job ladder.

The youth unemployment rate is expected to crack 1 million when figures are released on Wednesday. But the fact that almost 4,000 over-60′s have taken up these jobs tells you that the jobs crisis cuts across all age ranges and people are getting desperate.

Adding to the bleak picture: a survey of 1000 employers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development was published in Britain today and it makes for pretty difficult reading for those who thought that the private sector would step in and pick up the slack as government workers lose their jobs in the austerity drive.

The key point in the CIPD report, “The figures point to a slow, painful contraction in the jobs market. Many firms appear to be locked in ‘wait and see’ mode,”

Waiting and seeing is a painful attitude with unemployment at a 17 year high and expected to rise.

At least part of Britain’s employment woes are due to the contraction going on in its biggest trading partner: the euro zone. Today Chancellor Angela Merkel told a conference of her Christian Democratic Union that Europe is in “perhaps the toughest hour since World War II.”

She continued, “The challenge of our generation is to finish what we started in Europe, and that is to bring about, step by step, a political union.”

Hint to the Chancellor’s speech writers … promise political union will mean job creation. That is all anyone is concerned with in Europe these days.

This post originally appeared at The Christian Science Monitor.

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Jobseekers in the UK have a rocky time ahead of them, with businesses expected to put expansion and recruitment plans on hold for the foreseeable future, according to new research.

The latest quarterly survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warns that the UK jobs market is facing a “slow, painful contraction”.

The survey of 1,000 employers suggests that situation will worsen for the remainder of 2011 and remain poor for the medium term.

Growth in the private sector is expected to slow down over the next three months and public sector confidence is also expected to remain low and to worsen next year.

Although new recruitment will slow down, the CIPD did suggest that global economic uncertainty makes it less likely that UK jobs will be outsourced abroad.

Mark Hoban, the financial secretary to the Treasury, attributed the gloomy prospects to the ongoing crisis in the eurozone, although Labour has been quick to point out that unemployment was rising before problems in the eurozone became apparent.

Despite predictions of difficult times ahead, Mr Hoban said that the government will continue to push ahead with its deficit reduction plan.

It will, however, publish further plans to generate economic growth in the UK at the end of this month

Gerwyn Davies, the CIPD’s public policy adviser, said: “Many firms appear to be locked in wait and see mode, with some companies scaling back on all employment decisions against a backdrop of increasing uncertainty as a result of the eurozone crisis and wider global economic turmoil”.

Meanwhile, former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair today warned that a breakup of the eurozone would be ‘catastrophic’ and that the current crisis is the worst ever faced by the economic and monetary union.

Mr Blair is calling for the ‘whole weight of Europe’ to support the single currency and to help resolve debt crisis which is threatening the future of the eurozone.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has today provided an assessment for the UK economy. It has revised its growth forecasts to 1.4% for the 2011 year, down from its previous estimate of 1.6%. The estimate is roughly in line with other forecasts after the International Monetary Fund recently said the UK economy [...]

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK unemployment fell further in the three months to May. The ONS said unemployment fell by 26,000 in the three month period to 2.45 million. The latest figures means the unemployment rate remained flat at 7.7%. However, the number of Britons claiming jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) surged [...]