East: More Employers Look to Cut Jobs

13 March 2012, 05:14 | Updated: 13 March 2012, 07:19

A new recruitment study claims that more employers in the East of England are looking to cut jobs rather than create new ones.

The research is carried out by the recruitment company Manpower every three months to take a look at how the jobs market is doing.


The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is based on responses from 2,100 UK employers. It asks whether employers intend to hire additional workers or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming economic quarter.

'Employers are now looking to shed staff or freeze numbers rather than show confidence in taking on additional people. However, this is not the entire story,' says Jason Greaves, Operations Director at Manpower UK. 'The situation on the ground is encouraging and promising; we're seeing positive activity in engineering and design, insurance and energy, the financial sector and in local authorities. We shouldn't be downbeat!'

'But, the twin evils of skills shortage and talent mismatch weigh heavily in the region. Employers are becoming more and more specific with their wish lists, and there is a talent shortage of engineers and those with project management skills,' continues Greaves.

'Most encouragingly, however, the people in the East of England are positive and candidates interested in finding a job have the right attitude: they are out there, being proactive, searching and applying for jobs this is reaping positive results.'