UK Labour Market: Challenges, Organizational Responses, Employability

This report analyzes the UK labor market since 2019, examining the high demand for labor with low supply, the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit, and the challenges faced by undergraduate employees. It discusses how organizations respond to these challenges through increased pay and flexible working arrangements. The report suggests that employers should maximize wages and offer permanent contracts to attract more applicants. For undergraduates, it recommends developing digital skills and credentials to secure stable employment in the evolving labor market, particularly in remote working environments. The analysis concludes that focusing on skill development is crucial for undergraduates to overcome employment challenges and secure quality jobs.

Analyse the
UK labour
market
1

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
UK Labour market..................................................................................................................3
Discussion on response of businesses....................................................................................4
Suggestions for resource and talent planning.........................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
Challenges for undergraduates...............................................................................................5
Recommendation for responding to the challenge.................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
2

INTRODUCTION
The labor market is defined as the job market which support supply and demand of labor
where labor is provided to employers according to the demand (Bradley, Migali and Navarro
Paniagua, 2020). Labor market economics focuses on understanding the functioning and
dynamics of labor market in terms of which labor. The term labor is defined as the commodity
which is supplied by laborers in exchange of which paid by businesses. This report looks at the
changes in United Kingdom labor market and its impact on employability of undergraduates. the
challenges faced by undergraduate employees are explained in this report along with the
suggested response to the labor market changes in United Kingdom.
PART 1
UK Labour market
After the pandemic one of the primary trains on labour market is high demand of labour
which low supply. This has prompted many businesses to raise pay and offer more flexible
working employment to employees. The median basic pay award in last quarter are expected to
rise by 3%. The challenge which affects the labour market is the inclusion forecasted by Bank of
England which can lead to real time packets by April of 2022.
In the year 2022 the net employment balance which provides measurement of difference
between employers expecting to increase staff levels in the next three months and those
expecting to decrease staff level remind at +37 (Labour Market Outlook surveys, 2022). This
trend showcases positive impact for employees as it is one of the highest figures on record in
recent years and this primarily being driven by the private sector. Skilled employees will be able
to gain employment in the private sector because of such high demand for labour.
According to survey almost half of employers have hard to fill vacancies which require
highly skilled individuals. The sectors in United Kingdom which are affected by large number
of hard to fill vaccines include healthcare public administration and public sector along with
construction. Skill development in context of these industries can help individuals gain
employment add prominent positions quickly.
The UK labour market includes both insecure and atypical work along with secure jobs
which include diverse ways of working. It is analyse that instead of eliminating certain types of
contract from the labour market choice and job quality has been improving in the past decade.
3

In addition to this fear people in the United Kingdom are working variable hours or working part
time. Low pay and variable pay in United Kingdom has also declined over the past decade (Has
work become less secure?, 2021).
Discussion on response of businesses
Vacancies in United Kingdom have reached a record time high of 1.2 million employers
struggling to cope with shortage of skilled workers (Where are Britain's missing million
workers?, 2022). The response of many employers to search level of vacancies has been raising
pay. Increase in pay has been the most popular response to recruitment challenges in the post
pandemic world. Employers have responded to recruitment challenges by raising pay
advertising more jobs as flexible and up skilling existing staff.
Flexible working environment is an important characteristic of employer response to
recruitment challenges in recent years because COVID-19 has created situation where employees
are demanding more flexibility in their working spaces. This includes various demands such as
as remote working work from home and options to enhance work life balance through
technology. This care created by Covid 19 about infections gained from working spaces along
with the adoption of remote working by most workplaces during national lockdowns in United
Kingdom have changed employee preferences to remote working in most industries.
It is come to notice of labour force in United Kingdom that many businesses are able to
offer remote working and work from home environments to employees by using common digital
technologies. this has made the demand for flexible working environment and better work life
balance a mean factor of the current workforce. Many businesses in the United Kingdom have
currently adopted hybrid working systems in which some employees are working from home
while some employees are attending physical workstations.
The positive impact of business responding to recruitment challenge with pay increases is
that it can improve job quality of employees. Median basic pay awards will be increased because
of such response of employers towards recruitment challenges and can help low skilled
employees gain better pay along with better job opportunities (Bell and Blanchflower, 2019).
The negative impact of response of employers towards high demand of labour with low
supply is that low skilled employees will not be able to secure long-term employment of high
quality. This is because as brother law of supply and demand in labour markets a higher price of
labour leads to a higher quantity of labour supplies which can affect the employment
4

opportunities for lower skilled employees as the options for hiding glue skilled labour will
increase with the increase in pay.
Suggestions for resource and talent planning
The primary recommendations for employers in context of talent and resource planning is
to maximise wages where possible and support employee financial wellbeing to overcome low
pay as a deterrent for applicants. This is a suitable recommendation for employers as financial
instability in the past few years because of Brexit and COVID-19 in United Kingdom have
increased the importance of financial stability in the minds of potential employees.
In context of talent and resource planning it is suggested that employers need to offer
more permanent contracts interested of temporary contracts as it is preferred by many job
seekers. permanent contracts provide stable employment which is important in the current time
of crisis and economic slowdown across the world (Buchan, Seccombe and Smith, 2018).
PART 2
Challenges for undergraduates
The main challenge faced by undergraduate employees with low experience and skills is
to secure a permanent job contract in the current labour market. This is because many businesses
are still not offering higher pay and better working in my rent options to low skilled employees
because low skilled employees are not seen as much important to businesses in comparison to
candidates who are able to fill up hard to fill vacancies.
In addition to this employers prefer to work with experienced staff instead of youth who
lacks skills an credentials needed to work. This challenge is in at all time high in the current
times as many businesses have adopted hybrid systems for working. This means that many
trainers and employees are not present in physical workstations to provide training to young
undergraduate members of the workforce (Smith and White, 2019). Continuing with the hybrid
system or offering flexible working environment to employees requires employing candidates
who have experience or digital knowledge to handle remote working situations. This increases
challenge for undergraduate unskilled employees with lack of working experience and
professionalism in the current labour market.
5

Recommendation for responding to the challenge
The primary recommendation for unemployed undergraduates in the United Kingdom is
to develop digital skills and understand remote working systems in order to gain work with
permanent contract in organizations who have adopted hybrid working systems or are completely
becoming remote working organizations. This is a suitable recommendation as it will help
employees build digital skills which are necessary for future employment but also help them gain
employment in businesses with remove working systems with a permanent contract.
It is recommended to undergraduate employees with lack of credentials to develop
credentials by completing online and offline courses in specific fields so that businesses are able
to understand value of undergraduates employees in context of specific business areas. this is a
suitable recommendation as it can not only help them gain employment in the current
environment but also secure permanent and high quality jobs in comparison to low skilled labour
jobs which can be easily placed upon increase in supply of labour.
6

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that COVID-19 and Brexit have shaped the labour
market in United Kingdom in the past few years. The current labour market in United Kingdom
is seeing high demand for labour with low supply. High school jobs are becoming more hard to
fill and vacancies across industries are also increasing. The response of employers towards such
conditions in the labour market is to increase pay and offer more flexible working environment
to employees. This has both positive and negative implications for low skilled employees. It is
important for businesses to offer better benefits to employees such as permanent working
contracts so that more applicants can be attracted to different types of jobs. In context of
undergraduate employees with low skills in comparison to other employment candidates the
challenge to securing a job which woman in contract is increased in the current labour market of
United Kingdom. It is recommended that undergraduate employees focus on improving digital
skills so that they are able to gain permanent working contracts with work from home situation.
7

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Bradley, S., Migali, G. and Navarro Paniagua, M., 2020. Spatial variations and clustering in the
rates of youth unemployment and NEET: A comparative analysis of Italy, Spain, and the UK.
Journal of Regional Science, 60(5). pp.1074-1107.
Bell, D.N. and Blanchflower, D.G., 2019. The well-being of the overemployed and the
underemployed and the rise in depression in the UK. Journal of Economic Behavior &
Organization, 161. pp.180-196.
Buchan, J., Seccombe, I. and Smith, G., 2018. Nurses work: an analysis of the UK nursing
labour market. Routledge.
Smith, E. and White, P., 2019. Where do all the STEM graduates go? Higher education, the
labour market and career trajectories in the UK. Journal of Science Education and
Technology, 28(1). pp.26-40.
Online
Labour Market Outlook surveys, 2022. [Online] Available through <
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/work/trends/labour-market-outlook#gref >
Has work become less secure?, 2021. [Online] Available through
<https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/work/trends/has-work-become-less-secure-report>
Where are Britain's missing million workers?, 2022. [Online] Available through
<https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60039923 >
8