Brexit jitters hit employment prospects

Amanda White, head of specialist markets for ManpowerGroup, said hiring in Yorkshire is slowing down

The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey showed the outlook for the region is down three points to +5 per cent.

Amanda White, head of specialist markets for ManpowerGroup, said: “Hiring in Yorkshire is slowing down as we approach the triggering of Article 50, echoing the more cautious national outlook.

"However, there are still plenty of opportunities in the region’s call centres and we’re also seeing competition to find candidates for more technical roles."

At +5 per cent, optimism in Yorkshire now matches the national average.

Ms White said that jobseekers are increasingly reluctant to commute long distances so employers are having to dig deep into local talent pools to find the people they need.

The research showed that some employers are becoming more open to taking on staff with less relevant experience and offering on-the-job training to bring them up to speed.

“Hull becoming UK City of Culture 2017 has sparked a flurry of new hospitality and supply chain opportunities in the area," said Ms White.

"We’re also seeing lots of engineering and manufacturing opportunities, particularly for maintenance engineers. Siemens recently announced the development of a new facility at Green Port in Hull which will create over 1,000 jobs, which is great news for the area.”

The research indicated that private sector hiring has dropped to its weakest level since the first quarter of 2014.

Employers in six of the nine sectors surveyed reported a falling outlook. The overall Net Employment Outlook, which includes both public and private sector employers, dropped two points to +5 per cent.

Mark Cahill, ‎ManpowerGroup's UK managing director, said: “The impending trigger of Article 50 is clearly affecting confidence in the jobs market.

"The private sector plans to hire at its slowest rate since 2014 (+4 per cent), with only construction, manufacturing and transport and communications planning to hire at previous levels.

"The employment rate is at its highest level since records began in 1971, but if you lift the bonnet to look at the engine of the economy, job creation has slowed and employers are becoming more cautious. The companies which have powered Britain’s economy through the immediate post-referendum period are easing off the gas.”

All but five regions report falling outlooks for the coming three months compared with the previous quarter.

The biggest fallers are the two strongest Remain-supporting areas of the UK - Scotland, down 11 points to -3 per cent and London, down five points to +3 per cent.

The West Midlands and the South West both fell three points to +5 per cent.

The North East and South East are both down one point to +5 per cent and +4 per cent respectively.

Northern Ireland and the North West are the only risers, both up three points to +7 per cent and +6 per cent respectively.

Three regions report unchanged Outlooks: the East (+9 per cent) is still the most optimistic region ahead of the East Midlands (+8 per cent), while Wales (+2 per cent) reports the second weakest outlook in the UK.

The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey is based on responses from 2,119 UK employers.

It asks whether employers intend to hire additional workers or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter.

It is used as a key economic statistic by both the Bank of England and the Government.