Are things getting better? Is the recession over? Is it getting easier to find a job? It’s hard to tell. There are lots of confusing signals out there. The recession is finally over, as reported in the Guardian, but a 0.1% growth in the economy over the last three months of 2009 can hardly be described as exciting. Unemployment figures are also down, for the first time in 18 months as reported by the BBC (who also provide a handy map of regional unemployment levels).
Both these things seem like good news, but the news is also full of reports of large employers cutting jobs – Glaxo has announced that it’s cutting 3,000 jobs in Europe and the US, while fellow pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca is cutting 8,000 jobs, Ericsson is planning to cut 6,500 jobs (after already announcing that it would close its Coventry plant with the loss of 700 jobs in November), United Utilities also promised job cuts, the recession in Japan has prompted Toyota to plan 750 job losses at its plant in Derbyshire and finally the loss of 180 jobs from Shop Direct in Powys could increase local unemployment by 5%.
All of these concerns have prompted some to warn of the dreaded ‘double dip’ recession. With so many contradictory things going on these are certainly confusing times for job seekers. Our advice is to assume that the worst isn’t over, don’t be complacent, even if the economy is recovering it can take time for the recovery to filter down to job seekers. This is also a great time to keep on top of jobs posted on employer’s careers sites – with employers under pressure to cut budgets they are much more likely to advertise jobs for free on their own websites than engage expensive recruitment consultants charging up to 20% of salary to fill vacancies – here’s the list of all the employer websites we link too – good luck!