Stalling economy not deterring recruitment

Small businesses and others are to continue recruiting over the next few months despite worries over a stalling economy.

That is the conclusion of a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which found a balance of plus five businesses will be increasing staff levels in the first quarter of this year.

While that is slightly down on this time last year, it still represents positivity at a time where 33 per cent of employers said that they had reduced the hours of some staff members over the last five years.

Gerwyn Davies, Labour Market Adviser at the CIPD, said that businesses are, also, "reluctant to lay off skilled workers.

"The truth is that employers have learnt lessons of the past, where overly quick steps to cut staff led to a loss of talent and damaged the capacity of organisations to recover," he noted.

"The challenge for today's employers is to find innovative ways to deploy the skills available to them as they look for ways to grow in current market conditions."

It comes after the Confederation of British Industry predicted that GDP would grow by 0.3 per cent this year.

Posted by Emily Smith

Date published 19 Feb 2013 | Last updated 19 Feb 2013