Job trends in UK and US not moving in the same direction?As both the UK and the US continue to move out of recession in 2010, thousands of graduates and those made redundant in the wake of the credit crunch are trawling the jobs pages on and offline in an effort to seek new employment. Yet, whilst many individuals in both countries are being urged to use their skills in roles they may not have considered before, the job situation in each country is seemingly quite different.A quick analysis of the most recent news results for jobs in the US shows fairly positive signs. Most recently, the Associated Press has reported on the latest data from indeed.com which shows a significant increase in the number of job postings issued by certain sectors. Most notably, the hospitality industry has seen a 45 percent rise in the number of jobs advertised, while education has seen an increase by 22 percent and retail is up 16 percent too. Real estate, manufacturing and media have also seen minor improvements. However, the UK job situation doesn't look quite so positive. Local and regional press are awash with reports of closures and cuts with major companies such as Vauxhall, GlaxoSmithKline and Cadbury all cutting staff numbers instead of opening positions. Yet, a recent report from guardian.co.uk signifies that the problem could be less to do with lack of openings, and more to do with how jobs are advertised - and after acknowledging the Liberal Democrat data that 210,000 people searching for construction jobs are faced with just 302 openings on the Jobcentre Plus website, it is no wonder that the situation may look more bleak than it actually is. As the Jobcentre has increasingly become a place for manual and low-skilled work, a huge proportion of people are becoming more reliant on the growing number of specialist agencies and services which focus on sectors, such as media, or actual roles such as sales and marketing jobs. Yet, while it is not possible to force businesses to advertise their positions in the Jobcentre if they do not want to, there may need to be a post-recession reform in the incentives for such companies to ensure that their new positions are reaching as far as they possibly can be. |
