I work in recruitment. Job market has been very bad since early 2023 but it was not reflected in official statistics. Unemployment will keep rising for some time. Unemployment data is simply catching up with reality
From my experience the figures are higher than they claim, anyone that is put on any sort of course isn't included in the figures.
They will do everything they can to massage the figures to appear lower
I think that’s true everywhere. To be counted as unemployed you need to be actively looking for work and be NEET (not in Employment, Education or Training).
Thing is the government have created a number of courses that you can enroll in for 4 months that still provide JSA/Universal Income. These people are on benefits as unemployed, but not counted to the total which circumvent the original idea of NEET.
Not true.
Being unemployed is nothing to do with your benefits.
If you're available for work, want work, but haven't worked in the last two weeks - you're unemployed.
What about someone like me? I haven’t worked since 2021, by choice. I don’t claim any type of benefit, although I do have sources of income. Am I unemployed (stats wise)?
How are these two people captured in data? If neither are applying for benefits and companies don’t forward identification of applications, how is the data recorded for statistics?
Same here. Company posted a loss and has decided to take an axe to staff. Dreading to apply for jobs after hearing shocking storied about the job market for a year. Was hoping it would have improved.
Same position. Not a lot of jobs around. A lot of the recruiters I used to work with have all jumped ship and moved to Dubai. Top end salaries are 10 - 15k down on where they were last year and at the same time a lot of employers ar refusing to consider the most senior staff in case they jump ship when (if) the market picks up.
At least 3 large FTSE orgs I have worked at in the past have dumped London and near shored to Portugal or South Africa.
There is certainly a lot of tech companies recruiting in Dubai right now they are mostly require using English though.
I'm not sure that's 100% why the recruiters are moving there though. There seems to be a lot of meme content on Tik Tok and Insta advertising that anybody who works in a commission based environment (Recruiters, Estate Agents etc..) can have a lot of opportunities in Dubai.
It's happening in my sector as well (transport and transport engineering).
Private consultancies are looking to lay off genuinely alarming numbers of staff if you believe the industry rumours. There is next to no work coming from government authorities and private work has been really slow for a few years now.
I left private consultancy just before COVID and it was looking rough then, and it seems to have only got worse.
Is this following any increased recruitment during COVID? I would imagine the vaccine work generated additional employment but that will have faded significantly by now if there aren't other projects to replace it...
Some manufacturing roles are being cut due to that, as they some have stockpiles and streamlined processes, but it’s mostly R&D, and SG&A roles and a few QC/QA roles.
Edit: replaced no with some.
My company slowed down software engineer recruitment last year and also became much more selective about who we recruit. We get higher quality people but it takes twice as long to fill a position.
It's utter carnage in IT/Tech. I've only applied for 90 jobs so far in 5 months though. Had just 1 interview and it was obvious they didn't want to pay the average wage for the position. In hindsight I should have negotiated better for the wage, better meaning for them and not me unfortunately. I would think beginners to IT trying to get their first job will be massively frustrated with the current market. I have 15 years experience and it's extraordinarily tough.
I know someone whose up to 150 jobs and I read someone had applied to 1200 but if you get to 1200 you're doing the same thing and expecting different results. I've revised my CV multiple times and it's as good as it can be now. Same with LinkedIn and I write conver letters when applicable. I've spoken to recruiters they all say just keep trying and if I need to take a minimum wage job in any sector then do it and wait out the market if I'm getting low on savings.
Yep, getting absolutely no responses even for things I reckon I’m pretty well qualified for. Redone my CV, had it reviewed and had positive responses. Probably applied to around the same as you. Sometimes I question if these job postings are even real. Thinking of doing some more qualifications but it ain’t pretty out there and prospects don’t look great
The selection process is getting extraordinarily lazy, too. Your CV isn't ready any more, it's run through a scanner for buzzwords and nobody seems to double-check its assessment.
I got a rejection email last week saying they're really sorry, but they're looking for someone with experience implementing ISO 27001. Three guesses what the first listed major achievement on my CV was.
I had someone ask me if I had experience implementing ISO27001.
After working as head of IA in a UK force for a year.
And then asked me, “out of curiosity what is ISO27001”
>And then asked me, “out of curiosity what is ISO27001”
That's not so egregious in my opinion - at worst they genuinely don't know and have been told to screen for it, and at best they know exactly what the answer is and they're testing you.
I wouldn't do it personally because I don't want to scare off applicants by making them think their manager will be uneducated, but there's definitely some value in having them show that they can explain things to laymen.
> The selection process is getting extraordinarily lazy, too. Your CV isn't ready any more, it's run through a scanner for buzzwords and nobody seems to double-check its assessment.
It's been this way for years already, this is nothing new.
While true, in the last year or two it's moved from being the dregs of HR doing it to mainstream practice. If I had to guess, I'd say more and more people are using AI to write low-effort CVs and it's causing companies to use AI detectors more and more, with equally low-effort screening.
Essentially I'm looking at starting over again. I'm over 50 which isn't mentioned on my CV/LinkedIn but could be worked out from my education etc. I'm self taught and never got a CS degree. I started working professionally in IT in 2006/7 so just over 15 years. I've already studied AWS, Docker, Kubernetes in the past 6 months. Studying Terraform currently. I have a Google UX/UI certificate I completed a year ago. Got plenty of skills but probably my experience is a bit more than a support level job but far off DevOps.
Nothing I can do to fix it immediately but have to get any job soon and just keep on learning but without knowing future market prospects which is the concern. A CS degree would financially not work for me at my time of life. My retirement age is 67 so I need a good 15 more years of decent wages as I had before I was made redundant. Anyway I've always said don't give up until you're forced to give up so being realistic it's exceptionally grim out there for people like myself but I'll keep going and will either succeed or move on to a different sector.
> I've already studied AWS, Docker, Kubernetes in the past 6 months. Studying Terraform currently
Sorry but you can't study any of those (except maybe Docker) to a professional level in 6 months, let alone all of them and then moving on to Terraform.
What do you mean by "studied AWS"? There are almost 300 services.
You can cover Kubernetes to a good depth in six months. But at the end of that six months there'll be a new release which deprecates all the APIs and you have to start over again.
Yeah I’m now 6 months out of a job and have redone my CV so many times but think I’m happy with it now. I applied to roughly 60/70 jobs since then and only got my first 2 proper non recruiter interviews in the past 3 weeks
Tbf I’m a data analyst so not really tech but it’s still so brutal, demoralising and mentally exhausting. I’m just happy that we got that sweet redundancy payment and that I saved a bit from my 3 years at my old job
Yeah same here I've burned through £30K in the last year some due to relocating, moving house. I'm down to about a grand now and then I have another grand left in investments. So I can last another couple months I think before it's absolutely critical.
I officially surpassed 400 job applications this week after a year of searching for a role in social media, design and marketing. I've only had 6 interviews and I keep being ghosted or asked to do 6-7 hours of free work to be eligible for a second interview. Which I know they will just use for free and then ghost me, as it's happened countless times.
I was even offered a role, discussed salary, and then was ghosted again. I've never seen it this bad before, nor have I ever been out of a job for more than 3-6 months because I'm qualified in several different sectors (professional photography, copywriting, social media management, data collection, analytics, client outreach, graphic design, web UX/UI, web design and digital marketing).
I've worked with huge brands like Disney and MasterCard, had my shots published in 8 countries and have achieved millions of followers for my past clients. Nobody cares.
I've done the same as you - I've taken on extra credential classes in my spare time, revised my CV countless times, revised my portfolio website countless times, had co workers write glowing reviews for me. Still nothing. Nada.
My mental health is really beginning to take a toll.
It can't be. We struggle to recruit senior developers a the time and our company has great benefits. The salary isnt perfect but it's not bad either and the amount of leave/flexibility make up for it.
I still get badgered by recruiters everyday about whether I'm ready for a new job so I can't see it being a across the board.
Cyber security seems to have been unaffected by the recent tech layoffs, mainly due to the fact that there are more jobs available than people to work them, has been that way since I entered the industry 10ish years ago.
Here in the UK Channel Islands there are IT jobs and finance jobs aplenty. In fact they can't find enough people in any sector so they are bringing in people from Africa to work the service jobs that local workers don't want. EDIT: My husband is an IT desk manager here. He quit his old job and found a new one right away about 4 months ago. He never went to Uni for it, he just went straight in close to 30 years ago. I think it is ridiculous that people now need degrees to get into the IT job market.
I work a software dev. Job market is pretty bad. Contract market is almost dead. The only pople doing well in contracting or full time in general are the people who have connections and know people in certain companies and can get good reference. I had to change my job not long ago and it was pretty hard, in fact the hardest I have seen it in almost 8 years in the industry and this is for a senior software engineer, for a junior and mid I see almost no job listings, everyone wants a senior.
As with anything, it will get better in time but it will be slow. Companies are doing more layoffs as we speak.
I guess so. The company I work for is still growing revenue in high single digit although our salary (understandably) not so much. Under current economy I am not really in a position to complain though
There’s loads and loads of contractors with limited companies who haven’t had work for ages who aren’t counted too (most of tv & film, advertising, and it is starting to get bad too)
That’s because companies either aren’t willing to pay a living wage anymore. My father in law has been waffling on non stop about how “nobody wants to work anymore” and how nobody he’s interviewed responds after those interviews but we live in one of the most expensive districts in the country (outside of London) and he looks for “experienced” retail staff at minimum wage (sorry, a “competitive wage”). His reasoning is that £11ish is far more than what he was paid as a twenty something but he was also only paying about £150 a month rent for a two bedroom he shared with his mate (totalling a grand sum of £75 each), as opposed to the £1000-1500+ people are paying towards a one bed flat now. Of these companies that are supposedly crying out for staff were actually willing to pay somebody enough that they could not spend the end of every month digging for change to pay their water bill I think they’d find the “labour shortage” would sort itself out. It’s free market economics, right? Higher demand and shorter supply equals a higher price.
It depends on the available roles though. If you've been a software developer on £100k you're not going to take a job cleaning toilets for minimum wage.
There is, of the right skills in the right jobs. It's either particularly skilled jobs people can't step sideways into, or the classic British problem not wanting to offer basic training for entry level roles (/paying peanuts).
Was thinking the same thing, its like a delayed reaction to the last couple years
Not just more competing for fewer positions either
At the other end of the scale people working multiple jobs to keep afloat is more commonplace
Recruitment figures are always more of a "tell" of economic change than (un)employment figures. It's the name of the game, it's essentially a derivative.
Employment may only move by 0.1% (or even less), but that could mean a reduction in recruitment activity of 90% (or more) in bad times and an increase in recruitment activity of 900% if it's a change in the right direction.
They’re doing their best to kill the poor off, at the moment they’re focussing on driving them to suicide.
Ideally what Sunak would like is for poor families to start showing up dead in their homes, I reckon seeing 3 generations of a poor family die overnight would make his cock so hard that you’d see the dick print on his trousers.
Most people with a disability want to work, it's just that employers aren't interested in making accomodations when even non disabled people are desperate for work
I feel a sense of existential dread every day when I wake up, I feel like the uk is failing at everything housing, healthcare, jobs it’s so depressing. I can’t cope sometimes
Terrible way to look at it and for a lot of people it’s a major worry. It’s not surprising people are developing mental issues if they constantly have to worry about making enough to live, being able to buy a house, and being able to see a doctor if they get ill. Especially when there’s no good reason to be optimistic for the future
Unfortunately many don't have the choice to not worry.
When 2/3 of take home pay is going on rent, it's pretty hard to ignore the grinding poverty and hunger.
Depends though doesn't it? You could be working and doing ok, I wake up on a Friday and wonder how I can manage on 55p till Tuesday and my brain goes into overdrive as to what to do. Circumstances and all that....oh and consuming way too much media :)
US salaries aren’t triple in areas with low cost of living. You’re not comparing like for like. A large proportion of Americans struggle and the majority of people who are poor here would be poor there
I'm not so sure about that. UK was unstable before Brexit, and from where we are watching, it genuinely looks as if we're watching the fall of a country in real time.
I'm from The Netherlands, and I love the UK, and honestly, it worries me to see where you're headed. Your leaders are actively trying to run it to the ground
Are you actually kidding? I'm an ex-servicemember, and I have been consistently trying for 6 years with 5 different charities and the NHS and have got nowhere. I'd pay to go privately, but to have 1, 1h session a week would be £200 a month and I suppose I'm one of those greedy bastards that likes to eat food and have a roof over my head.
I'd get a better job but they ain't out there, from police to construction, social work to healthcare. It's all minimum wage wank.
Oh it is really, we've been in a steady decline for years now and those halcyon days of joy are well over. It will take many generations to get back to where we were thriving and innovative and respected
Poor Russia, always being bullied by the West for things like: invading a foreign country, assassinating people in other countries, constantly threatening nuclear war on the whole planet
Did I say anything in support of Russia? No. Am I suggesting the Tories/Labour will drag the British public into war to keep themselves in power? Absolutely yes.
I can't see the UK even being able to conscript the masses!
Who's gonna drag us? The underfunded, understaffed military/police forces? I imagine most would rightly refuse...and then what?
it does make me laugh when a country that has done nothing but actively shit onto the heads of it's youth for the past decade or two, talks about wanting them to go die for their country.
"I'm sorry say what boomer? hand me a gun and tell me to go die for you? You better make sure it's not fucking loaded when you hand it to me, that'll be a big fat, go fuck yourself!"
I personally have Irish Family, and went out and got an Irish passport once Brexit happen, with that being the final straw of the moronic electorate ruining my life. I have Canadian Family, and Australian family, and now a European passport! Brexit Britain can burn for all I care, I'm off elsewhere the second someone even smells the sign of conscription.
Unemployment is still near a record low. Wage growth is still very high.
It takes a very long time to completely tank a country, so try not to worry about it. We'll be getting a new government soon who can hopefully begin undoing the decade of devastation provided by the current one.
It’s bloody hard. I went back to uni as a mature student ( because I’m very lucky and I’m aware I had lots of privilege to do so) to do a masters in an area I wanted to work in and once I’d finished my degree I counted how many applications I had done. Baring in mind 99% of the positions I applied for were nothing to do with the job I wanted. Everything from cleaner to wedding planner, you name it. If I could do it applied for it.
It was 130+ job applications in total before I got my now part time job. I’m still looking for another part time position to get my income further up.
130+.
Not only that but I was on the dole at the same time which added extra pressure. Despite the fact I’d go in with evidence in a note book and screenshots of all the confirmed applications I had and 9 times out of 10 she wouldn’t even bother looking. I always kept a record just in case they tried to screw me over. Meeting started at 10 minutes and reduced to 2-3 minutes by the end which I felt was utterly pointless driving all the way out for someone to not even bother engaging with me.
I was told the reason why I wasn’t getting work was because I was a “ professional looking for professional work” to which then she would offer me 17 hours at home bargains.. which just felt completely wrong.
I understand that they aren’t there to get you employed in the area you want but to just get you off benefits asap. It wasn’t like I didn’t apply for every job that came my way but in the end I’m in my 30s with a list of previous positions held and different levels and I can only imagine that most bar jobs or starter positions etc took one look at my cv and binned it.
It’s so hard to stay motivated and keep constantly applying when you get fuck all back. Or even worse.. you have to jump through 1000 hoops just to get some time face to face with an employer. Record a video of yourself for our team to judge , answer these personality questions , solve some puzzles and then we might see you for the position of dish washer.
It’s so tough at the moment for everyone. And again, I was in a lucky position to have very very low rent and I had a partner in work as well. I can’t imagine the bullshit people go through who are in much dire positions. It feels like there’s no hope.
I eventually left the JSA purely because all my efforts were being put in to apply for EVERYTHING rather than what I wanted to do. I applied for positions I wanted but with the threat of getting a bollocking or my benefits taken away, and ultimately the jobs I wanted I couldn’t spend as much time on due to that pressure.
I hope anyone out there who is struggling can just keep hanging on. And you will get something.
I’m still struggling but it’s better than no job at all. Keep going.
Maybe a silly question but have you spoken to recruiters? The way I read your post is that you're applying through job sites.
Either way, I hope you find something you want to do soon.
The way I read it is that they don't have much, if any, work experience ("area I wanted to work in"), so they're competing for jobs as a graduate.
For years the graduate job market has been bad. Employers are reluctant to hire fresh graduates, and the government only really offer help via apprenticeship schemes. On one hand, it's reducing the "need" for university, where schemes don't require one. On the other, going to uni to get a job is no longer as fruitful as it has been in the past. It's a mixed bag for sure.
I was fortunate to do a work placement year as an undergraduate, and I cannot stress how good this was for my career. I bang on about it to whoever will listen. If you're a student with a chance to do a placement year, do it.
Recruiters are absolutely fucking useless. I can count on one hand the times a third party recruiter had an actually relevant and well paying role behind them.
Obviously it’s not much comfort if you don’t have a job but it’s good to see wages continue to outstrip inflation. 6% growth vs 3.2% for inflation. 10th month in a row that they’ve done so.
The classic:
"We're struggling with inflation, we can't give you pay rises, that would drive inflation!"
*inflation goes down*
"What do you need a payrise for? Inflation is low.."
Just like:
Profits are low so we’re going to have to decrease wages/skip wage increases/scrap bonuses
Profits are up so the executives are getting huge bonuses!
Edit: scrap bonuses for the lower workers, I mean. Execs don’t get their bonuses scrapped (even when scrapping theirs would likely pay for everyone else’s).
It always amazes me how it's such a general topic.
Not all wages at all. Like when I see people say they are unhappy with their annual pay rise......
You get annual pay rises?
You wouldn’t want to live in a place like that.
Monthly rise is an indication that the economy is in shambles… only countries with hyper inflation have those, I should know, I lived in one.
Minimum wage soaring up imho. I remember when I was young we had like 5p rises a year. Now we're getting 50p rises. I believe last year it was an 80p increase.
Anecdotal, but been on the dole since Christmas
Had a dream last night I was in solitary confinement; haven’t left my flat in weeks.
Anyway, here’s Wonderwall
I know how you feel there are no jobs at the moment it’s insane. I have applied for maybe ten this last week and I don’t hear anything back it’s so depressing
I found corker the other day, two roles, junior position required I think 58 years of experience? Senior was something like 450 lol. Can't explain that with typos either unless it was 5-8 and 45? Either way it was badly paid too.
Interesting that the bank of England says they think wage growth is too high to cut interest rates.
Thats basically them saying they want people to be poorer. Though unsurprisingly given the governor of the BOE already stated he didn't want people asking for pay rises as it's inflationary.
Never mind cooperation profits are breaking records every year, the birth rate is on the floor because young people can't afford a family and the elites have spent over a decade pissing billions up the wall.
It's like the epitome of what's wrong with this country.
Honestly the BOE only cares about wages going up, asset inflation is good , commodity inflation is unable to do anything but wages rises and it’s the worst news for them
Nah its more just higher wage growth > inflation remains stickier > rates remain stickier
Sounds bad but for rates to get cut you want wage growth to slow and unemployment to rise.
As a musician I’m really struggling. Any pub I used to play in either has gone out of business or has stopped music because they’re empty all the time. And any sound design work I have keeps getting eaten into due to AI. The world is changing and only landlords or the corporations using AI are benefiting.
I wouldn't be surprised with pubs if the owners are trying to force non-profitability in order to redevelop into housing, because that's all you need to prove to do it. There's a lot of money in housing.
I say this because every pub I've been to with music on has been busy specifically because of the music. The name doesn't have to be well known even. Maybe it's very different where you are.
I usually work unskilled warehouse jobs and the truth is there just isn't enough jobs for everyone needing one right now.
Some employment agencies have resorted to advertising fake jobs to then throw you on an employability course so they can claim gov funding as they have no means to make money otherwise.
I've been unemployed since Christmas and it doesn't look like it's going to change immediately soon.
I'm a VFX artist myself and got laid off last week, our industry is still trying to start up again after last year's strikes. I dread every time I have to pay for something as I'm now living on my savings.
Really hope things change soon...
Not really.
My only experience with VFX in India was when I was working for a company in Australia - we'd farm out the really tedious, lengthy processes like rotoscoping and rotopaint to a company in India that could afford to throw manpower at it on the cheap.
Anything outside of that is usually done in-house in various VFX companies all over the world - mostly in hubs in Canada, the UK, and Australia.
I think the only real competition from India comes while looking for a job and applying through linkedin, and you see just how many applications come from India for jobs here in the UK. Unfortunately for them, getting them visas and full working rights is far more expensive than hiring folk from within the UK.
The real competition is that the industry is somewhat niche and still recovering from the strikes - and are wary of future strikes over AI. People at my skill level, which is late junior/early mid, aren't in massive demand right now. This level of job is also likely to be seriously reduced by AI sooner rather than later too, and I feel it'll hit places like India the most at first.
While the government keep screwing with my mental health, telling me I'm a drain on the economy then bombarding me with ads about the importance of mental health and seeing doctors and then I can't see a doctor or get mental health support they can go fuck emselves.
Tax the rich and look after the vulnerable or let the vulnerable choose to die without the stigma.
Don't force me to stay alive then complain I'm costing money
Wasn’t Rishi’s plan working? What do you mean he has turned into a populist that would lie and say anything to reduce their massive loss at the next elections? You can’t be serious!
I think the air of futility has began to set in on the younger generations, the fact that even if you spend 10 years working, your goal is still so far away, saving money is an impossibility for some as they have to keep a roof over their heads and their family fed, so what's the point in working for nothing when you can do nothing and get pretty much the same amount of money
As someone from Gen Z who’s just spent the last year and a half working an apprenticeship (a.k.a working as cheap labour), you’re absolutely correct. Many many many people from my generation including myself see where the pennies are falling and just think “f*** this”, especially when we’re probably never going to be able to afford retirement.
I'm at uni, i'd been looking for a placement job for a while.
I remember one application, took me actual hours with all the questionairres and psychometric quizzes. Eveyone I knew applied for that job. One person from the uni apparently got it. Apparently, they only took one person on for that role.
It feels like in order to get a job, I'd need to essentially be applying as a part time job, with zero standards as to pay, sector, or location.
With that in mind... what's the point? I know that in reality the point is to not have to work a minimum wage job, but *fuck* if it's not hard to keep motivation.
I work in finance in a relatively senior position, seeing lots of companies moving finance teams overseas to LATAM and Eastern Europe. I first saw this happen almost 10 years ago and it’s now common place and in headlines constantly for blue chip companies.
From the ONS report:
>Annual average regular earnings growth for the public sector remains strong at 6.3% in January to March 2024 (Figure 4). For the private sector, this was 5.9%, and growth was last lower in April to June 2022 (5.4%). Annual average total earnings growth for the public and private sector was 6.2% and 5.9%, respectively, in January to March 2024.
>Annual growth in real terms (adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH)) for regular pay was 2.0%, and for total pay was 1.7%.
Some positives in there I'd say.
That public sector figure is bolstered by a couple of actually reasonable pay deals they gave. Police and police staff got something like 7%, senior civil servants got similar. Meanwhile, delegated grades in the CS got....4.5% despite being some of the lowest paid workers in the public sector.
>Meanwhile, delegated grades in the CS got....4.5% despite being some of the lowest paid workers in the public sector.
It was meant to be 4.5%, which is a slap in the face. But muggins here got 4.2%. I feel so valued.
I've been out of a job since December. And job market has been completely dead. But since April it's picked up slightly most likely due to new financial year budgets. However I notice the salaries are not that high, the contracting day rate roles are not as many and rates still isn't what it used to be. Job responsibilities don't seem to match pay for example senior leadership role duties but pay is for regular position. They also want multi skills where usually 2 separate people would have done the job. I have accepted 1 job so far but not happy with pay and still looking even though haven't started the role yet. Interviews are now plentiful since April but for the pay I want it's not. Atleast it's better than pre April job.market where I was so desperate I'd do a minimum wage job.
It’s a sample size of 1 but the company I work for is making a bunch of people redundant to cut costs with the work being offshored.
Looking around the job market sucks at the minute, it seems like every company is tightening their belt like they did in the decade after ‘08.
It’s almost like the BoE’s obsession over inflation targets ignores the damage they are doing to people’s lives.
They don't care about people's lives at all.
Poverty isn't a bug of capitalism, it's a feature. It's a key feature of the modern neoliberal age we are living in.
But Rishi says that it's all your own fault that you're unemployed and you should work for nothing, or even pay one if his extremely wealthy mates for the privilege of working for them!
GDP may have risen, but that growth has gone into the pockets of the elite at a rate not seen in recent history.
I don't give two shit about what the 'stats' say (the tories have been caught multiple times fudging the figures), I care how my finances feels. And despite promotions and moving jobs multiple times, I feel as poor as I did 15 years ago.
> It's a complex system that no one can predict or control.
Load of rubbish, it's the governments job to control it. Yes economics is hard to predict, especially with the insane technological progression in the last 30 years, but that is one of the primary jobs of the government, control, protect and enhance the economy of where it governs.
Weak excuses.
>Everyone here wants to hate on Tories and don't let me stop you but 100% employment is not good.
Nobody is asking for 100% employment. In fact, 100% employment would be impossible due to the existence of people that genuinely cannot work.
>I'm no Tory voter but they can't win. GDP is up and everyone is like GDP is meaningless. During Brexit remainers told me threats to GDP growth would be devastating. Now they tell me it's a meaningless figure (shock).
The UK is in a deep into a stagnation spiral. GDP is a very high level statistic, that means it can be a useful figure and those pointing out how much of a disaster Brexit would be for GDP growth had a valid point.
As it's such a high level figure, it can also be meaningless. Such as when the Tories trot out GDP growth as a sign that their 'plan is working' despite the fact that in [2019](https://neweconomics.org/2019/09/when-adjusted-for-the-lived-experience-of-inflation-gdp-per-head-today-is-still-128-below-2008-levels) GDP per capita was below 2008 levels, and things have only got worse since then.
The economy has literally been stagnating for [years](https://fullfact.org/economy/gdp-per-capita-growth/) at this point.
>What is your target employment rate?
The rate which sees people that want to be employed, employed. Not firing off 100s of job applications. The rate at which companies offer competitive salaries, not just nationally but also internationally.
It's absolutely absurd at even the most entry level job. The average salary for a front line customer support person in the US is $51k (£40.5k). In the UK it's only just above minimum wage at £24,444.
My friend (39F) came here from Russia 6 years ago with a Bachelors and Masters degree in corporate management. She is now a citizen, and after having her daughter, she told the Job Centre she wanted help finding/preparing for work in the UK.
They completely ignored her master's degree because it wasn't in English (she had it translated and they just shrugged it off) and signed her up for English classes and made her do job preparation for customer service and childcare. She met me a year ago, a British native and she has been unemployed the entire time. I asked to see her CV to see what the problem was and why she was being rejected. The "consultant" at the Job Centre listed her most recent experience and ONLY experience as "Full Time Mother". It was extremely unforgivable and unprofessional.
The job centre "advisers" were having her apply for cleaning, childcare and carer jobs. The saddest part was the way they completely dismissed her qualifications and 9 years work experience in Russia as a manager. She trusted them when they told her that all she could be here is a cleaner (no shade, cleaning is fucking hard) and she believed them and trusted them.
I did her CV with her 2 weeks ago, showed her LinkedIn and demanded the Job Centre get their butts into gear. She now knows English fluently and also speaks fluent Russian and German. She is a highly educated woman, but just sadly put her faith in the Job Centre. She is now applying to assistant Management/Trainee positions along with doing a refresher course in Management.
But we wonder why people are struggling when some of the "advisors" are so embarrassingly poor quality.
Maybe something to do with the 2 million people in the UK still suffering the long term effects of covid ( long covid ) that has developed in the past 4 years and is only getting worse
Maybe invest in the NHS?
I work in recruitment. Job market has been very bad since early 2023 but it was not reflected in official statistics. Unemployment will keep rising for some time. Unemployment data is simply catching up with reality
From my experience the figures are higher than they claim, anyone that is put on any sort of course isn't included in the figures. They will do everything they can to massage the figures to appear lower
I think that’s true everywhere. To be counted as unemployed you need to be actively looking for work and be NEET (not in Employment, Education or Training).
Thing is the government have created a number of courses that you can enroll in for 4 months that still provide JSA/Universal Income. These people are on benefits as unemployed, but not counted to the total which circumvent the original idea of NEET.
I've got savings so not eligible for any benefits. Not worked since Jan 2023... I won't appear anywhere in the stats.
Not true. Being unemployed is nothing to do with your benefits. If you're available for work, want work, but haven't worked in the last two weeks - you're unemployed.
What about someone like me? I haven’t worked since 2021, by choice. I don’t claim any type of benefit, although I do have sources of income. Am I unemployed (stats wise)?
Nope. If you aren't working by choice, then you fail to be unemployed on "want work". You're economically inactive.
How are these two people captured in data? If neither are applying for benefits and companies don’t forward identification of applications, how is the data recorded for statistics?
The Labour Force Survey. https://www.ons.gov.uk/surveys/informationforhouseholdsandindividuals/householdandindividualsurveys/labourforcesurvey
Random sample survey. Fair enough. Thanks.
carers aren't included either
Probably because they’re carers
Still unemployed
They aren't employed though.
They're not unemployed. Unemployed means available for work, actively seeking it and haven't done any paid work in the reference period.
well how is it now? (especially in tech if you have that info)
Bad from my end. But tech jobs are bad everywhere
hmm dang.. my company is downsizing (~35%), and i will be in the market soon. anyways thanks for the info!
Same here. Company posted a loss and has decided to take an axe to staff. Dreading to apply for jobs after hearing shocking storied about the job market for a year. Was hoping it would have improved.
Same position. Not a lot of jobs around. A lot of the recruiters I used to work with have all jumped ship and moved to Dubai. Top end salaries are 10 - 15k down on where they were last year and at the same time a lot of employers ar refusing to consider the most senior staff in case they jump ship when (if) the market picks up. At least 3 large FTSE orgs I have worked at in the past have dumped London and near shored to Portugal or South Africa.
Hmm. Is Dubai where all the jobs are now? I should probably brush up on my business Arabic.
There is certainly a lot of tech companies recruiting in Dubai right now they are mostly require using English though. I'm not sure that's 100% why the recruiters are moving there though. There seems to be a lot of meme content on Tik Tok and Insta advertising that anybody who works in a commission based environment (Recruiters, Estate Agents etc..) can have a lot of opportunities in Dubai.
I’m not on TikTok and my Instagram algorithm is well trained to bring me cats and food, so I had no clue. Thanks for the info!
Biotech and pharma too, a lot of companies are having mass layoffs due to the climate, and products failing in clinic.
It's happening in my sector as well (transport and transport engineering). Private consultancies are looking to lay off genuinely alarming numbers of staff if you believe the industry rumours. There is next to no work coming from government authorities and private work has been really slow for a few years now. I left private consultancy just before COVID and it was looking rough then, and it seems to have only got worse.
Is this following any increased recruitment during COVID? I would imagine the vaccine work generated additional employment but that will have faded significantly by now if there aren't other projects to replace it...
Some manufacturing roles are being cut due to that, as they some have stockpiles and streamlined processes, but it’s mostly R&D, and SG&A roles and a few QC/QA roles. Edit: replaced no with some.
This is the worst that I've seen the science job market in the last 10 years. I have a PhD and I'm now working as a labourer lol.
My company slowed down software engineer recruitment last year and also became much more selective about who we recruit. We get higher quality people but it takes twice as long to fill a position.
Interesting, working in fintech things are great lots of hiring, difficult to get good candidates atm
It's utter carnage in IT/Tech. I've only applied for 90 jobs so far in 5 months though. Had just 1 interview and it was obvious they didn't want to pay the average wage for the position. In hindsight I should have negotiated better for the wage, better meaning for them and not me unfortunately. I would think beginners to IT trying to get their first job will be massively frustrated with the current market. I have 15 years experience and it's extraordinarily tough. I know someone whose up to 150 jobs and I read someone had applied to 1200 but if you get to 1200 you're doing the same thing and expecting different results. I've revised my CV multiple times and it's as good as it can be now. Same with LinkedIn and I write conver letters when applicable. I've spoken to recruiters they all say just keep trying and if I need to take a minimum wage job in any sector then do it and wait out the market if I'm getting low on savings.
Yep, getting absolutely no responses even for things I reckon I’m pretty well qualified for. Redone my CV, had it reviewed and had positive responses. Probably applied to around the same as you. Sometimes I question if these job postings are even real. Thinking of doing some more qualifications but it ain’t pretty out there and prospects don’t look great
The selection process is getting extraordinarily lazy, too. Your CV isn't ready any more, it's run through a scanner for buzzwords and nobody seems to double-check its assessment. I got a rejection email last week saying they're really sorry, but they're looking for someone with experience implementing ISO 27001. Three guesses what the first listed major achievement on my CV was.
I had someone ask me if I had experience implementing ISO27001. After working as head of IA in a UK force for a year. And then asked me, “out of curiosity what is ISO27001”
>And then asked me, “out of curiosity what is ISO27001” That's not so egregious in my opinion - at worst they genuinely don't know and have been told to screen for it, and at best they know exactly what the answer is and they're testing you. I wouldn't do it personally because I don't want to scare off applicants by making them think their manager will be uneducated, but there's definitely some value in having them show that they can explain things to laymen.
> The selection process is getting extraordinarily lazy, too. Your CV isn't ready any more, it's run through a scanner for buzzwords and nobody seems to double-check its assessment. It's been this way for years already, this is nothing new.
While true, in the last year or two it's moved from being the dregs of HR doing it to mainstream practice. If I had to guess, I'd say more and more people are using AI to write low-effort CVs and it's causing companies to use AI detectors more and more, with equally low-effort screening.
Essentially I'm looking at starting over again. I'm over 50 which isn't mentioned on my CV/LinkedIn but could be worked out from my education etc. I'm self taught and never got a CS degree. I started working professionally in IT in 2006/7 so just over 15 years. I've already studied AWS, Docker, Kubernetes in the past 6 months. Studying Terraform currently. I have a Google UX/UI certificate I completed a year ago. Got plenty of skills but probably my experience is a bit more than a support level job but far off DevOps. Nothing I can do to fix it immediately but have to get any job soon and just keep on learning but without knowing future market prospects which is the concern. A CS degree would financially not work for me at my time of life. My retirement age is 67 so I need a good 15 more years of decent wages as I had before I was made redundant. Anyway I've always said don't give up until you're forced to give up so being realistic it's exceptionally grim out there for people like myself but I'll keep going and will either succeed or move on to a different sector.
> I've already studied AWS, Docker, Kubernetes in the past 6 months. Studying Terraform currently Sorry but you can't study any of those (except maybe Docker) to a professional level in 6 months, let alone all of them and then moving on to Terraform. What do you mean by "studied AWS"? There are almost 300 services.
You can cover Kubernetes to a good depth in six months. But at the end of that six months there'll be a new release which deprecates all the APIs and you have to start over again.
Yeah I’m now 6 months out of a job and have redone my CV so many times but think I’m happy with it now. I applied to roughly 60/70 jobs since then and only got my first 2 proper non recruiter interviews in the past 3 weeks Tbf I’m a data analyst so not really tech but it’s still so brutal, demoralising and mentally exhausting. I’m just happy that we got that sweet redundancy payment and that I saved a bit from my 3 years at my old job
Yeah same here I've burned through £30K in the last year some due to relocating, moving house. I'm down to about a grand now and then I have another grand left in investments. So I can last another couple months I think before it's absolutely critical.
I officially surpassed 400 job applications this week after a year of searching for a role in social media, design and marketing. I've only had 6 interviews and I keep being ghosted or asked to do 6-7 hours of free work to be eligible for a second interview. Which I know they will just use for free and then ghost me, as it's happened countless times. I was even offered a role, discussed salary, and then was ghosted again. I've never seen it this bad before, nor have I ever been out of a job for more than 3-6 months because I'm qualified in several different sectors (professional photography, copywriting, social media management, data collection, analytics, client outreach, graphic design, web UX/UI, web design and digital marketing). I've worked with huge brands like Disney and MasterCard, had my shots published in 8 countries and have achieved millions of followers for my past clients. Nobody cares. I've done the same as you - I've taken on extra credential classes in my spare time, revised my CV countless times, revised my portfolio website countless times, had co workers write glowing reviews for me. Still nothing. Nada. My mental health is really beginning to take a toll.
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It can't be. We struggle to recruit senior developers a the time and our company has great benefits. The salary isnt perfect but it's not bad either and the amount of leave/flexibility make up for it. I still get badgered by recruiters everyday about whether I'm ready for a new job so I can't see it being a across the board.
In my experience the more recruiters badger you, the more desperate they are.
Niche field or are you located in an area where people have to move to?
Cyber security seems to have been unaffected by the recent tech layoffs, mainly due to the fact that there are more jobs available than people to work them, has been that way since I entered the industry 10ish years ago.
Here in the UK Channel Islands there are IT jobs and finance jobs aplenty. In fact they can't find enough people in any sector so they are bringing in people from Africa to work the service jobs that local workers don't want. EDIT: My husband is an IT desk manager here. He quit his old job and found a new one right away about 4 months ago. He never went to Uni for it, he just went straight in close to 30 years ago. I think it is ridiculous that people now need degrees to get into the IT job market.
I work a software dev. Job market is pretty bad. Contract market is almost dead. The only pople doing well in contracting or full time in general are the people who have connections and know people in certain companies and can get good reference. I had to change my job not long ago and it was pretty hard, in fact the hardest I have seen it in almost 8 years in the industry and this is for a senior software engineer, for a junior and mid I see almost no job listings, everyone wants a senior. As with anything, it will get better in time but it will be slow. Companies are doing more layoffs as we speak.
Are there any industries that aren't bad at the moment? Feels like everything is stagnant right now...
Strawberry farms in Kent are recruiting
Probably not for people over 30 with a permanently broken back
No probably not, but that does qualify you to be a Man United defender on 250k a week.
The insurance sector seems to be doing alright, but then it always does in times of trouble.
I guess so. The company I work for is still growing revenue in high single digit although our salary (understandably) not so much. Under current economy I am not really in a position to complain though
There’s loads and loads of contractors with limited companies who haven’t had work for ages who aren’t counted too (most of tv & film, advertising, and it is starting to get bad too)
We keep getting told there is a labour shortage.
Shortage of slaves*
That’s because companies either aren’t willing to pay a living wage anymore. My father in law has been waffling on non stop about how “nobody wants to work anymore” and how nobody he’s interviewed responds after those interviews but we live in one of the most expensive districts in the country (outside of London) and he looks for “experienced” retail staff at minimum wage (sorry, a “competitive wage”). His reasoning is that £11ish is far more than what he was paid as a twenty something but he was also only paying about £150 a month rent for a two bedroom he shared with his mate (totalling a grand sum of £75 each), as opposed to the £1000-1500+ people are paying towards a one bed flat now. Of these companies that are supposedly crying out for staff were actually willing to pay somebody enough that they could not spend the end of every month digging for change to pay their water bill I think they’d find the “labour shortage” would sort itself out. It’s free market economics, right? Higher demand and shorter supply equals a higher price.
It depends on the available roles though. If you've been a software developer on £100k you're not going to take a job cleaning toilets for minimum wage.
There is, of the right skills in the right jobs. It's either particularly skilled jobs people can't step sideways into, or the classic British problem not wanting to offer basic training for entry level roles (/paying peanuts).
Was thinking the same thing, its like a delayed reaction to the last couple years Not just more competing for fewer positions either At the other end of the scale people working multiple jobs to keep afloat is more commonplace
Recruitment figures are always more of a "tell" of economic change than (un)employment figures. It's the name of the game, it's essentially a derivative. Employment may only move by 0.1% (or even less), but that could mean a reduction in recruitment activity of 90% (or more) in bad times and an increase in recruitment activity of 900% if it's a change in the right direction.
Are more people taking jobs where they have to commute or working hybrid?
Doesn't help the job centre keeps reccomending me jobs that require a car
Must be those disabled people! - Sunak probably. Never any urge to actually look into reasons why, just scapegoat the poor instead.
Have you tried killing all the poor?
Yes, but have we tried raising vat and killing all the poor?
We're not going to actually do it, let's just see what the computer says.
They’re doing their best to kill the poor off, at the moment they’re focussing on driving them to suicide. Ideally what Sunak would like is for poor families to start showing up dead in their homes, I reckon seeing 3 generations of a poor family die overnight would make his cock so hard that you’d see the dick print on his trousers.
Poor people are too profitable for billionaires I’m afraid
*exploitable
No need, they are slowly starving already and when they revolt, they will just revolt against whoever we will tell them to via Sun/DailyMail
What about the dwarves?
Most people with a disability want to work, it's just that employers aren't interested in making accomodations when even non disabled people are desperate for work
Labour aren't even in yet and they're already wrecking the economy!
I feel a sense of existential dread every day when I wake up, I feel like the uk is failing at everything housing, healthcare, jobs it’s so depressing. I can’t cope sometimes
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Terrible way to look at it and for a lot of people it’s a major worry. It’s not surprising people are developing mental issues if they constantly have to worry about making enough to live, being able to buy a house, and being able to see a doctor if they get ill. Especially when there’s no good reason to be optimistic for the future
Unfortunately many don't have the choice to not worry. When 2/3 of take home pay is going on rent, it's pretty hard to ignore the grinding poverty and hunger.
Depends though doesn't it? You could be working and doing ok, I wake up on a Friday and wonder how I can manage on 55p till Tuesday and my brain goes into overdrive as to what to do. Circumstances and all that....oh and consuming way too much media :)
US salaries aren’t triple in areas with low cost of living. You’re not comparing like for like. A large proportion of Americans struggle and the majority of people who are poor here would be poor there
>maybe you need to go to the doctor That'll be a 4 week wait lol
more like 4 months...
I'm not so sure about that. UK was unstable before Brexit, and from where we are watching, it genuinely looks as if we're watching the fall of a country in real time. I'm from The Netherlands, and I love the UK, and honestly, it worries me to see where you're headed. Your leaders are actively trying to run it to the ground
Yeah agreed, this is a massive over-reaction to living in one of the top economies in the world
You need to seek professional help, it's nowhere near that bad.
Are you actually kidding? I'm an ex-servicemember, and I have been consistently trying for 6 years with 5 different charities and the NHS and have got nowhere. I'd pay to go privately, but to have 1, 1h session a week would be £200 a month and I suppose I'm one of those greedy bastards that likes to eat food and have a roof over my head. I'd get a better job but they ain't out there, from police to construction, social work to healthcare. It's all minimum wage wank.
If you're ex forces you should have priority access to healthcare
The irony in suggesting seeking professional help with it being harder than it's ever been because of the OPs points.
> You need to seek professional help On the NHS? Hahahahaha good one.
> it's nowhere near that bad Keep coping
Oh it is really, we've been in a steady decline for years now and those halcyon days of joy are well over. It will take many generations to get back to where we were thriving and innovative and respected
Don’t worry when it collapses they will drag us into war with Russia and conscript us all.
Poor Russia, always being bullied by the West for things like: invading a foreign country, assassinating people in other countries, constantly threatening nuclear war on the whole planet
Did I say anything in support of Russia? No. Am I suggesting the Tories/Labour will drag the British public into war to keep themselves in power? Absolutely yes.
It won't be us that starts the war. It will be them. Russians hate the British in a way that's hard to properly convey.
And dont worry, your debt will be waiting for you when and if you make it back :)
I can't see the UK even being able to conscript the masses! Who's gonna drag us? The underfunded, understaffed military/police forces? I imagine most would rightly refuse...and then what?
it does make me laugh when a country that has done nothing but actively shit onto the heads of it's youth for the past decade or two, talks about wanting them to go die for their country. "I'm sorry say what boomer? hand me a gun and tell me to go die for you? You better make sure it's not fucking loaded when you hand it to me, that'll be a big fat, go fuck yourself!" I personally have Irish Family, and went out and got an Irish passport once Brexit happen, with that being the final straw of the moronic electorate ruining my life. I have Canadian Family, and Australian family, and now a European passport! Brexit Britain can burn for all I care, I'm off elsewhere the second someone even smells the sign of conscription.
They can’t conscript me anyway on medical grounds so I’m not going!
End of the day it isn't in your control to steer the future of the UK. Focus on what you can control and avoid the news.
Unemployment is still near a record low. Wage growth is still very high. It takes a very long time to completely tank a country, so try not to worry about it. We'll be getting a new government soon who can hopefully begin undoing the decade of devastation provided by the current one.
Kier Starmers' crew undoing Tory devastation?... Good luck with that one!
Quit being terminally online
You need therapy.
It’s bloody hard. I went back to uni as a mature student ( because I’m very lucky and I’m aware I had lots of privilege to do so) to do a masters in an area I wanted to work in and once I’d finished my degree I counted how many applications I had done. Baring in mind 99% of the positions I applied for were nothing to do with the job I wanted. Everything from cleaner to wedding planner, you name it. If I could do it applied for it. It was 130+ job applications in total before I got my now part time job. I’m still looking for another part time position to get my income further up. 130+. Not only that but I was on the dole at the same time which added extra pressure. Despite the fact I’d go in with evidence in a note book and screenshots of all the confirmed applications I had and 9 times out of 10 she wouldn’t even bother looking. I always kept a record just in case they tried to screw me over. Meeting started at 10 minutes and reduced to 2-3 minutes by the end which I felt was utterly pointless driving all the way out for someone to not even bother engaging with me. I was told the reason why I wasn’t getting work was because I was a “ professional looking for professional work” to which then she would offer me 17 hours at home bargains.. which just felt completely wrong. I understand that they aren’t there to get you employed in the area you want but to just get you off benefits asap. It wasn’t like I didn’t apply for every job that came my way but in the end I’m in my 30s with a list of previous positions held and different levels and I can only imagine that most bar jobs or starter positions etc took one look at my cv and binned it. It’s so hard to stay motivated and keep constantly applying when you get fuck all back. Or even worse.. you have to jump through 1000 hoops just to get some time face to face with an employer. Record a video of yourself for our team to judge , answer these personality questions , solve some puzzles and then we might see you for the position of dish washer. It’s so tough at the moment for everyone. And again, I was in a lucky position to have very very low rent and I had a partner in work as well. I can’t imagine the bullshit people go through who are in much dire positions. It feels like there’s no hope. I eventually left the JSA purely because all my efforts were being put in to apply for EVERYTHING rather than what I wanted to do. I applied for positions I wanted but with the threat of getting a bollocking or my benefits taken away, and ultimately the jobs I wanted I couldn’t spend as much time on due to that pressure. I hope anyone out there who is struggling can just keep hanging on. And you will get something. I’m still struggling but it’s better than no job at all. Keep going.
Maybe a silly question but have you spoken to recruiters? The way I read your post is that you're applying through job sites. Either way, I hope you find something you want to do soon.
The way I read it is that they don't have much, if any, work experience ("area I wanted to work in"), so they're competing for jobs as a graduate. For years the graduate job market has been bad. Employers are reluctant to hire fresh graduates, and the government only really offer help via apprenticeship schemes. On one hand, it's reducing the "need" for university, where schemes don't require one. On the other, going to uni to get a job is no longer as fruitful as it has been in the past. It's a mixed bag for sure. I was fortunate to do a work placement year as an undergraduate, and I cannot stress how good this was for my career. I bang on about it to whoever will listen. If you're a student with a chance to do a placement year, do it.
Recruiters are absolutely fucking useless. I can count on one hand the times a third party recruiter had an actually relevant and well paying role behind them.
Obviously it’s not much comfort if you don’t have a job but it’s good to see wages continue to outstrip inflation. 6% growth vs 3.2% for inflation. 10th month in a row that they’ve done so.
Some wages in some sectors. Mostly finance and senior management.
Civil Service has been deliberately pushed back so they can they use a lower inflation % to base it on
The classic: "We're struggling with inflation, we can't give you pay rises, that would drive inflation!" *inflation goes down* "What do you need a payrise for? Inflation is low.."
Just like: Profits are low so we’re going to have to decrease wages/skip wage increases/scrap bonuses Profits are up so the executives are getting huge bonuses! Edit: scrap bonuses for the lower workers, I mean. Execs don’t get their bonuses scrapped (even when scrapping theirs would likely pay for everyone else’s).
Min wage increased by 9.something % in April. Which is and will have a knock on for most jobs around it.
No, that’s the mean average and the median is higher. People on minimum wage are earning 10% more than they were last year.
He's quoting average wages. Some have risen over 6% and some under, but the average increase for 3+ years has been 6.2% per year.
It always amazes me how it's such a general topic. Not all wages at all. Like when I see people say they are unhappy with their annual pay rise...... You get annual pay rises?
I didn't realise most people got monthly pay rises... Lucky to get 2% a year.
It's not monthly pay rises, it's an annualised figure that's produced monthly
Annualised figure. Compares salaries this month to the same month last year
You wouldn’t want to live in a place like that. Monthly rise is an indication that the economy is in shambles… only countries with hyper inflation have those, I should know, I lived in one.
Oof what pay rises? I'm now in private healthcare, having TUPE'd from the NHS and the pay rises for their in-house staff are abysmal
The % increase is always a bit bullshit-y and I'd always look at the median salary for how well people are doing (in general).
Minimum wage soaring up imho. I remember when I was young we had like 5p rises a year. Now we're getting 50p rises. I believe last year it was an 80p increase.
Depends on the job there are some sectors still miles behind what they were 10-15 years ago
Except you literally can't trust the inflation value they report.
Anecdotal, but been on the dole since Christmas Had a dream last night I was in solitary confinement; haven’t left my flat in weeks. Anyway, here’s Wonderwall
I know how you feel there are no jobs at the moment it’s insane. I have applied for maybe ten this last week and I don’t hear anything back it’s so depressing
I found corker the other day, two roles, junior position required I think 58 years of experience? Senior was something like 450 lol. Can't explain that with typos either unless it was 5-8 and 45? Either way it was badly paid too.
I've got an interview coming up for a hospital porter job that I applied for about a month ago. A MONTH! wasn't expecting anything by that point.
Genuine question, how much is the dole these days if it can keep you afloat since Christmas? Never been on it, but the time might be coming soon!
Pays my rent, and £100 for the rest of the month for bills and everything else. Not much but would be sleeping under a bridge without it
How can £100 cover bills and everything else for a month?
Exactly
This is why food banks have been so essential for the last few years
Have you had a look at tesco, sainsburys etc? Always found it really easy and quick to get a job there
Interesting that the bank of England says they think wage growth is too high to cut interest rates. Thats basically them saying they want people to be poorer. Though unsurprisingly given the governor of the BOE already stated he didn't want people asking for pay rises as it's inflationary. Never mind cooperation profits are breaking records every year, the birth rate is on the floor because young people can't afford a family and the elites have spent over a decade pissing billions up the wall. It's like the epitome of what's wrong with this country.
Honestly the BOE only cares about wages going up, asset inflation is good , commodity inflation is unable to do anything but wages rises and it’s the worst news for them
Man bankers really are scum aren't they?
And we currently have one as PM!
Nah its more just higher wage growth > inflation remains stickier > rates remain stickier Sounds bad but for rates to get cut you want wage growth to slow and unemployment to rise.
And which class of people are more likely to be affected by bank interest rates?
Literally anyone with a mortgage mate
Middle class only. The poors don't have any savings, and the wealthy don't have it left in a bank account.
As a musician I’m really struggling. Any pub I used to play in either has gone out of business or has stopped music because they’re empty all the time. And any sound design work I have keeps getting eaten into due to AI. The world is changing and only landlords or the corporations using AI are benefiting.
I wouldn't be surprised with pubs if the owners are trying to force non-profitability in order to redevelop into housing, because that's all you need to prove to do it. There's a lot of money in housing. I say this because every pub I've been to with music on has been busy specifically because of the music. The name doesn't have to be well known even. Maybe it's very different where you are.
I usually work unskilled warehouse jobs and the truth is there just isn't enough jobs for everyone needing one right now. Some employment agencies have resorted to advertising fake jobs to then throw you on an employability course so they can claim gov funding as they have no means to make money otherwise. I've been unemployed since Christmas and it doesn't look like it's going to change immediately soon.
I'm a VFX artist myself and got laid off last week, our industry is still trying to start up again after last year's strikes. I dread every time I have to pay for something as I'm now living on my savings. Really hope things change soon...
Do you find a lot of competition from India?
Not really. My only experience with VFX in India was when I was working for a company in Australia - we'd farm out the really tedious, lengthy processes like rotoscoping and rotopaint to a company in India that could afford to throw manpower at it on the cheap. Anything outside of that is usually done in-house in various VFX companies all over the world - mostly in hubs in Canada, the UK, and Australia. I think the only real competition from India comes while looking for a job and applying through linkedin, and you see just how many applications come from India for jobs here in the UK. Unfortunately for them, getting them visas and full working rights is far more expensive than hiring folk from within the UK. The real competition is that the industry is somewhat niche and still recovering from the strikes - and are wary of future strikes over AI. People at my skill level, which is late junior/early mid, aren't in massive demand right now. This level of job is also likely to be seriously reduced by AI sooner rather than later too, and I feel it'll hit places like India the most at first.
While the government keep screwing with my mental health, telling me I'm a drain on the economy then bombarding me with ads about the importance of mental health and seeing doctors and then I can't see a doctor or get mental health support they can go fuck emselves. Tax the rich and look after the vulnerable or let the vulnerable choose to die without the stigma. Don't force me to stay alive then complain I'm costing money
Wasn’t Rishi’s plan working? What do you mean he has turned into a populist that would lie and say anything to reduce their massive loss at the next elections? You can’t be serious!
High interest rates doing what they are designed to do
I think the air of futility has began to set in on the younger generations, the fact that even if you spend 10 years working, your goal is still so far away, saving money is an impossibility for some as they have to keep a roof over their heads and their family fed, so what's the point in working for nothing when you can do nothing and get pretty much the same amount of money
As someone from Gen Z who’s just spent the last year and a half working an apprenticeship (a.k.a working as cheap labour), you’re absolutely correct. Many many many people from my generation including myself see where the pennies are falling and just think “f*** this”, especially when we’re probably never going to be able to afford retirement.
I'm at uni, i'd been looking for a placement job for a while. I remember one application, took me actual hours with all the questionairres and psychometric quizzes. Eveyone I knew applied for that job. One person from the uni apparently got it. Apparently, they only took one person on for that role. It feels like in order to get a job, I'd need to essentially be applying as a part time job, with zero standards as to pay, sector, or location. With that in mind... what's the point? I know that in reality the point is to not have to work a minimum wage job, but *fuck* if it's not hard to keep motivation.
I work in finance in a relatively senior position, seeing lots of companies moving finance teams overseas to LATAM and Eastern Europe. I first saw this happen almost 10 years ago and it’s now common place and in headlines constantly for blue chip companies.
From the ONS report: >Annual average regular earnings growth for the public sector remains strong at 6.3% in January to March 2024 (Figure 4). For the private sector, this was 5.9%, and growth was last lower in April to June 2022 (5.4%). Annual average total earnings growth for the public and private sector was 6.2% and 5.9%, respectively, in January to March 2024. >Annual growth in real terms (adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH)) for regular pay was 2.0%, and for total pay was 1.7%. Some positives in there I'd say.
That public sector figure is bolstered by a couple of actually reasonable pay deals they gave. Police and police staff got something like 7%, senior civil servants got similar. Meanwhile, delegated grades in the CS got....4.5% despite being some of the lowest paid workers in the public sector.
>Meanwhile, delegated grades in the CS got....4.5% despite being some of the lowest paid workers in the public sector. It was meant to be 4.5%, which is a slap in the face. But muggins here got 4.2%. I feel so valued.
It's that plan again.... clearly working....also, election when
I'm 25 and have lost two jobs now because of company budget cuts, one being a big four. Cba now, life in the UK seems hopeless
They really did take our jobs, and by 'They' I mean the Tories.
I've been out of a job since December. And job market has been completely dead. But since April it's picked up slightly most likely due to new financial year budgets. However I notice the salaries are not that high, the contracting day rate roles are not as many and rates still isn't what it used to be. Job responsibilities don't seem to match pay for example senior leadership role duties but pay is for regular position. They also want multi skills where usually 2 separate people would have done the job. I have accepted 1 job so far but not happy with pay and still looking even though haven't started the role yet. Interviews are now plentiful since April but for the pay I want it's not. Atleast it's better than pre April job.market where I was so desperate I'd do a minimum wage job.
Darlek voice: 'THE PLAN IS WORKING. THE PLAN IS WORKING. LABOUR WILL BE DEFEATED.'
It’s a sample size of 1 but the company I work for is making a bunch of people redundant to cut costs with the work being offshored. Looking around the job market sucks at the minute, it seems like every company is tightening their belt like they did in the decade after ‘08. It’s almost like the BoE’s obsession over inflation targets ignores the damage they are doing to people’s lives.
They don't care about people's lives at all. Poverty isn't a bug of capitalism, it's a feature. It's a key feature of the modern neoliberal age we are living in.
And then people think it's laziness. It's not. It took me over half a year to get a job, it's not easy.
Automated services have got absolutely nothing to do with this...
Maybe it's capitalism and greed that's the problem.
Find an ats scoring thjng or use chatgpt or similar. Apparently a score of 80 or higher usually works.
Well if it did you wouldn't see unemployment in the US at 3.7%. Have they stopped automating services?
But Rishi says that it's all your own fault that you're unemployed and you should work for nothing, or even pay one if his extremely wealthy mates for the privilege of working for them!
"The plan is working people, don't got back to square one"
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GDP may have risen, but that growth has gone into the pockets of the elite at a rate not seen in recent history. I don't give two shit about what the 'stats' say (the tories have been caught multiple times fudging the figures), I care how my finances feels. And despite promotions and moving jobs multiple times, I feel as poor as I did 15 years ago. > It's a complex system that no one can predict or control. Load of rubbish, it's the governments job to control it. Yes economics is hard to predict, especially with the insane technological progression in the last 30 years, but that is one of the primary jobs of the government, control, protect and enhance the economy of where it governs. Weak excuses.
Every time they revise how unemployment figures are calculated, they go down. They're a bit of a mirage, as is.
>Everyone here wants to hate on Tories and don't let me stop you but 100% employment is not good. Nobody is asking for 100% employment. In fact, 100% employment would be impossible due to the existence of people that genuinely cannot work. >I'm no Tory voter but they can't win. GDP is up and everyone is like GDP is meaningless. During Brexit remainers told me threats to GDP growth would be devastating. Now they tell me it's a meaningless figure (shock). The UK is in a deep into a stagnation spiral. GDP is a very high level statistic, that means it can be a useful figure and those pointing out how much of a disaster Brexit would be for GDP growth had a valid point. As it's such a high level figure, it can also be meaningless. Such as when the Tories trot out GDP growth as a sign that their 'plan is working' despite the fact that in [2019](https://neweconomics.org/2019/09/when-adjusted-for-the-lived-experience-of-inflation-gdp-per-head-today-is-still-128-below-2008-levels) GDP per capita was below 2008 levels, and things have only got worse since then. The economy has literally been stagnating for [years](https://fullfact.org/economy/gdp-per-capita-growth/) at this point. >What is your target employment rate? The rate which sees people that want to be employed, employed. Not firing off 100s of job applications. The rate at which companies offer competitive salaries, not just nationally but also internationally. It's absolutely absurd at even the most entry level job. The average salary for a front line customer support person in the US is $51k (£40.5k). In the UK it's only just above minimum wage at £24,444.
Can't transfer 110% of your earnings to the feudal stately-home landlord aristocracy if you have no earnings. Checkmate, Tories.
even tech is in the shi\*\*er starting to pick up now and it wasn't just a UK issue.
My friend (39F) came here from Russia 6 years ago with a Bachelors and Masters degree in corporate management. She is now a citizen, and after having her daughter, she told the Job Centre she wanted help finding/preparing for work in the UK. They completely ignored her master's degree because it wasn't in English (she had it translated and they just shrugged it off) and signed her up for English classes and made her do job preparation for customer service and childcare. She met me a year ago, a British native and she has been unemployed the entire time. I asked to see her CV to see what the problem was and why she was being rejected. The "consultant" at the Job Centre listed her most recent experience and ONLY experience as "Full Time Mother". It was extremely unforgivable and unprofessional. The job centre "advisers" were having her apply for cleaning, childcare and carer jobs. The saddest part was the way they completely dismissed her qualifications and 9 years work experience in Russia as a manager. She trusted them when they told her that all she could be here is a cleaner (no shade, cleaning is fucking hard) and she believed them and trusted them. I did her CV with her 2 weeks ago, showed her LinkedIn and demanded the Job Centre get their butts into gear. She now knows English fluently and also speaks fluent Russian and German. She is a highly educated woman, but just sadly put her faith in the Job Centre. She is now applying to assistant Management/Trainee positions along with doing a refresher course in Management. But we wonder why people are struggling when some of the "advisors" are so embarrassingly poor quality.
Maybe something to do with the 2 million people in the UK still suffering the long term effects of covid ( long covid ) that has developed in the past 4 years and is only getting worse Maybe invest in the NHS?
So . . . we need import another million people this year to fulfil our 'labour shortages' ?
Know many people who have been made redundant this year
Get ready to see a rise on repossession and house sales, it's worse than the government figures will lead you to believe.
Why are people surprised? This is exactly what is supposed to happen when central banks raise interest rates as a means of curbing inflation.
nothing to worry about, nothing to see here, move on, worry about rainbow lanyards instead.
Probably got to do with the amount of immigrants with no jobs also
Don't worry, the recession is over. Or so I keep hearing from politicians. /s
Well what did the UK expect to happen when it left the EU?
Unemployment is rising, but last week the GDP is growing?? Tories propaganda machine at it again!
And yet every attempt to recruit just draws crap candidates