Unemployment Falls as Estate Agents Hire Staff

As I have noted before, the British economy is driven by the property market and people's confidence (usually misplaced, given that property prices are relative) that an increase in house prices is an increase in personal liquid wealth.

Thus it should come as no surprise to see that today's announcement that unemployment dropped to 7.7%, from 7.8% in the three months to April, is largely due to an upturn in confidence in the property market.

Overall 80,000 jobs were created over the period, significantly above the predictions by "experts" and economists of an increase of 55,000. However, accounting for a large part of this 80,000 increase was a rise in the number of "real estate" jobs (on the back of a surge in confidence in the property market) of 50,000.

NB: "Real estate" jobs are in the main estate agents.Any source

Unemployment Down?

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) unemployment ahs fallen:

"The unemployment rate was 7.8% of the economically active population, down 0.1 percentage points on July to September 2012 and down 0.6 on a year earlier. There were 2.50 million unemployed people, down 14,000 on July to September 2012 and down 156,000 on a year earlier."

Yet the job market seems to be extremely tight. According to the Guardian, over 1,700 people have applied for eight jobs at a new branch of Costa in Mapperley.

It seems that the apparent fall in those officially unemployed may in fact represent a shift "off balance sheet". Any source

A statistic, a reminder

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

The final Discuss HR of the week is by my fellow Gloucestershire resident and experienced HR Consultant John Hepworth, who has written some of our most read posts ever!  I think this one could be up there with them... (Ed Scrivener)

A statistic, a reminder

Recent media reports have highlighted that unemployment amongst ‘young people’ in Spain now stands at 55%. I assume that the demographic relates to those just leaving education or higher education. This means, then, that a larger proportion of 18-24 year olds will have their first taste of the so-called ‘adult world’ as a statistic – no job, no prospects.

Back to the U.K. The latest unemployment figures showed a decline: welcomed and also cynically challenged by a few [“Look at the number of people who want to work more hours, but cannot – that has increased!”]. Yet, here again, there has been a slight increase in youth unemployment – the wonderful acronym NEATs [that is, I think this is correct – I am away from Internet access currently so cannot check. The leads to another blog at some stage, featuring a recent ‘South Park’ storyline, but more of that at a later date...].

Look back to the 1980s. Thatcher’s Britain and UB40 – both in terms of the unemployment form and the reggae-influenced band singing about being “A one in 10...a number on a list...as though I don’t exist”. Is it any wonder that the band UB40 named their first album ‘Signing off’, as their musical success had allowed them to stop claiming ‘the dole’?

And finally, returning to the news reports, the last known miner from the ‘Jarrow Crusade’ has passed away. Part of the Great Depression of the 1930s in the U.K. the Crusade was a visible demonstration of how poverty, lack of work prospects and yet, a dogged determination to succeed and prosper without ‘handouts’, could shape and influence policy and Government attitudes. And above all, the visible demonstration – literally and descriptively – showed the World that there were people at all levels of society ready to say ‘no’ to poverty and take action to change the script.

I am acutely aware that business in the U.K. is tough for most at the moment. Cost of living is relatively static and the key reason that employment has fallen is that pay has been stagnant: people are cheaper to employ, yet that in turn means less money being spent to encourage buying of goods and services for example. We all know the script here. Surely, though, our society has allowed itself to make the same mistakes as the past, especially when it comes to youth unemployment?

Consider this. In the 1980s, it was common for generations of families to be unemployed. This led to a lifestyle that was benefit-dependent, compounded by the complete failure of Government to provide alternative work, or more to the point perhaps, the means to acquire alternative work. Think of Norman Tebbitt and his ‘on yer bike’ quote to get work? I personally agree with the sentiment, but how exactly did Norman or successive Government improve our transport infra-structure in order to help people – optimised by the Jarrow marchers perhaps – get to the work they desired? Remember as well the simply pathetic efforts of Government since the mid-1980s to provide employers and employees / potential employees with access to understandable, focused and competently delivered training and funding. Which new initiative is it this week?!

Time to change the script. To start, private sector employers need to think about investment and training in their society as well as in their profits. As HR practioners, let’s help the CEOs provide 3-6 month paid internments that provide skills, so that recipients can at least point to some ‘relevant experience’ on their CVs. Second – let’s help line managers by recruiting for attitude as much as skills and ensure that we keep our short-listing criteria up-beat and positive, and not lazy by pointing to qualifications and experience as a guillotine. Thirdly, connect with education and ensure that if Twitter is the lifeblood of a certain age group, we encourage our companies to use it and benefit from it. Get savvy with the IT and trash the Social Media Policy and Procedure! Next, value customer service above all else – and recognise that this includes ensuring that bar work and cafe work is probably far more useful than nothing at all. We all remember the last bad meal out we had – and that was usually down to the service – so celebrate good service as consumers at the time that you see it.

And finally, remember that research shows definitively that unemployment in early adulthood significantly alters how those affected relate to society in later life – and it is in the negative. So, the next time you hear someone say of a young graduate or GCSE student that they are ‘over-qualified’ or ‘lack experience’, remember the Spanish youth of today. And do your bit to change the script.

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

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Unemployment in the USA, Pennsylvania and the Valley (Chart)

Our entry on school taxes last week got more views and comments than many previous ones, so we wanted to follow up with another relevant topic and accompanying graph - unemployment.  Take a look at the chart below that compares unemployment in the Valley with unemployment across the US and in Pennsylvania, starting in January 2008 and up to May 2012, the last month that numbers were available.

Okay, so what can we make of this chart?  A few points:

• US and Pennsylvania unemployment rates are relatively smooth, while the Valley's tend to ebb and flow much more dramatically.  This makes sense; the Valley is a smaller geographical area, so when one large business opens or closes, it can have a more dramatic effect on the overall unemployment rate.
• Pennsylvania has consistently had lower unemployment numbers than the country, something made even more impressive when you consider that Pennsylvania is a "rust belt" state that is supposed to still be struggling in its transition away from manufacturing.
• In general, the Valley has had lower unemployment rates than the rest of the US, but higher rates than the rest of Pennsylvania.  Does this mean that it will take longer for the Valley to recover from the recession than the rest of the state?  And what exactly is causing this

If you have any insight we'd love to hear it from you; let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Economic slowdown?

I caught this story on CNN and it seemed worth elaborating on.  The story notes that two Federal Reserve Presidents are concerned that the recovery, already slow, may be slowing further.  The primary indicator of this is that GDP only grew 2.2% in the 1st quarter of 2012, compared to 3% in the last quarter of 2011.  The two men also noted that there are at least two potentially significant worries that the economy faces down the road: ongoing European debt issues and rising gas prices.  Both have cooled, at least for now, but could flare up again and damage our economic recovery.

There are also initial concerns that the job market is slowing as well.  For the second straight month, private job  growth dipped.  In April, the private sector only added 119,000 jobs, compared to 201 jobs in March and 228 jobs in February.  The same happened in the Valley, with a recent jobs report noting that the area lost 3,200 jobs - despite unemployment dropping to 7.9% from 8.1%.  The big report is expected this Friday, however, when the April unemployment numbers are expected to be released.

All indicators are preliminary, but its enough to get people worried.  What do you think?  Are you worried about the economy slowing down again, and is it something that you have noticed?  Let us know in the comments!
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Making the case for child labour

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

Regular readers will recall Dorothy Nesbit’s last post for the blog, a rather personal tale of living in the midst of last year’s London riots.  Drawing from this experience and reflecting upon her own child hood she believes the employment future of our youth relies upon the re-introduction of child labour. (Ed Scrivener)

Making the case for child labour

Sometimes, it takes personal experience to bring home the challenges that we face in society at large.  So it is that, in recent months, a number of personal experiences have brought home to me the plight of young people in our current times.

About 18 months ago a young friend, newly graduated, took up a teaching job in China.  He is one of a generation of young people who are at a loss to find suitable work despite doing everything they were told to do (“work hard, get a good education”) to succeed.  His experience was reinforced more recently when I spoke to a family friend, mother of two graduates – one of whom has subsequently trained as a barrister – who have both been unemployed for three years since leaving education.  Even the local supermarkets have said no to employing them because they are “over-qualified” for the jobs available.

And yes, last years’ riots (which I mentioned in my December posting) also brought home the challenges young people face.  I wrote on the day of the riots about an encounter with two young people who were lingering outside my front door after the rioters had left.  I asked them if they’d been involved:

“No, not us, we're good boys.  We're just covering up our faces because we don't want to risk losing our jobs if we're seen.  But they” - pointing to the police - “they've got to understand that if they keep taking our jobs away, we're going to do something - they've got to understand”.

I look back on my own formative years and realise how much I have to be grateful for.  From a young age I had opportunities to earn money.  I contributed half the cost of my first trip abroad (aged 14) from those earnings, which came from babysitting, from selling mushrooms which I picked on my parents’ farm before going to school, and from other work I did around the farm.

Later, aged 16 or so, I had a Saturday job at a department store some ten miles away, catching the bus to and from work.  During my university years I spent holidays working at an old peoples’ home as Deputy Manager (something that, in retrospect, I can hardly believe) and, one year, doing the grape harvest in France.  I was an au pair in Austria before I started my degree course and taught English in a French school for a year as part of my degree.  In Austria I also taught English to one of my neighbour’s children.  In France I tutored the son of an English family due to return to the UK as he prepared to take GCSEs.

From an early age there was unpaid work, too – what often get called “chores”.  At home these included such things as laying the table and washing up after meals.  In my last year at school I undertook to turn on the oven that warmed the plates for lunch at the beginning of each school day.  At secondary school the prefects system conferred responsibility.  By the time I left home I had at least some awareness of what it takes to manage my finances and to maintain a home.  I’ve often thought of myself as particularly naive about the world of work during my formative years – I know now of many career paths which I could have taken then and of which I was just not aware at the time.  Still, by the time I left full-time education I had experienced a variety of work.

Of course, the world has moved on since my childhood.  And still, I wonder what messages we need to take from these experiences that might still apply today.  Here are my first thoughts:

• I see a need for humility amongst the adults whose responsibility it is to contribute to children and young adults as they prepare for adult life and the world of work.  The world today is different from the world we grew up in and tomorrow’s world will be different again.  Imagining we know the answers for our children may go some way towards assuaging our fears and still, in the end, our role is to help young people find their own way in this ever-changing world;
• We all have a desire – a need, even – to contribute to others.  Letting children play a role in the house from an early age supports them in meeting this need, builds self esteem and prepares them for their life as independent adults;
• Success in adult life takes many forms, not all of which depend on our exam results.  Introducing children to both paid and unpaid work from an early age supports them in meeting immediate needs, in developing skills of living and in exploring possible avenues for a future career;
• In a world in which not everyone can find a job at all times, we – the adults – need to remember that, with or without a job, we are all, fundamentally, OK.

About the author

Dorothy Nesbit, Leadership Coach, unleashes innate leadership potential through powerful, compassionate and authentic relationships.
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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Wednesday 14^th March and will be written by HR Consultant John Hepworth.

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