Give us a say on workers’ rights, plead businesses
Ministers must work closely with business to avoid “spooking” employers as they carry the biggest overhaul of workers’ rights in decades, a leading recruitment trade body has said.
Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), said: “The government is right to make economic growth its focus. Only growth can turn employers’ sentiment to hire and invest, into action.
“That means creating the right conditions for a wide range of ways of working — matching the needs of both workers and the economy. The government’s plans to ‘make work pay’ mustn’t inadvertently jeopardise access to temporary work by spooking employers.
“Uncertainty about what new employment rules might mean — or concern about their impact — needs to be answered by designing the rules with business.”
Business leaders have warned that the government risks doing “real damage” to the economy if it pushes ahead too quickly with new laws in the proposed Employment Rights Bill.
The Federation of Small Businesses has previously cautioned that measures such as banning exploitative zero-hours contracts, and allowing unfair dismissal protection and sick pay from the first day after a probation period, risks adding to the burden for firms already struggling with high inflation and interest rates.
The warning came as latest figures from the Labour Market Tracker published by the confederation and Lightcast show that the number of job vacancies cooled last month. There were 748,211 new job postings in July, down by 3.2 per cent on June’s figure.
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The total number of vacancies remains high by historical standards, however, buoyed by skill shortages in certain sectors and increases in some roles in construction, finance and retail, all seen as bellwethers for the economy.
Carberry said the data suggests growing optimism about the end of the year, with economic growth strengthening, interest rate cuts and inflation considerably lower than a year ago. Anecdotal evidence from confederation members also indicated that the growth in business activity and the completion of the general election had played a role in unlocking some hiring decisions.
“Both the high number and wide spread of vacancies in today’s report is particularly beneficial for recent graduates and school leavers because they will aim to begin their careers this summer, as well as prove helpful for those re-entering the job market after a break.”
For the second month in a row, childminders saw the highest increase in job postings, doubling in number from June to July 2024. About 27,500 early-years professionals will be needed to meet an expected rise in demand for places, an 8 per cent expansion of the current workforce, the think tank Nesta has estimated.
Train and tram drivers are also in high demand, while the number of postings for primary teachers and pharmacy assistants fell by around 10 per cent.
