Yesterday’s official unemployment figures, up 30,000 to 2.46 million were greeted with some relief in many quarters as they were not as bad as had been expected.
The Guardian were relatively positive, but pointed out that many people without full time roles had turned to temporary work or education to avoid the dole queue and emphasized that one in five under 24’s were not working. The economics editor of the Telegraph used his blog to point out that the total number not working was more like 5.7 million (if you include all people that would like to work full-time, but for some reason can’t). The Daily Mail went even further, saying that 8 million have no job (and don’t even want one) and that those people in employment were more likely to have taken part-time roles on lower salaries with little job security than in previous markets. The REC (the trade body that represents recruitment consultants) was relatively dry on the matter, saying that practical support for job seekers remained crucial and (unsurprisingly) encouraged public sector employers to work with its members to help stem unemployment.
Whichever you look at it (and the Guardian provides a useful summary of what economists think) times are still tough for job seekers and employers are able to recruit more easily and at less cost than in recent years. Given this, it’s probably right for job seekers to be flexible, take that job at a slightly lower salary than you would have hoped for a couple of years ago, get your foot in the door of the organisation and aim to progress once inside – tough medicine, but worth considering.