Here at Arras People we are often asked by project management practitioners “How is the market?”; Or “Is this a candidate’s market?” Etc. questions that we really do not like to answer because “the market”, in our eyes at least, is a mythical thing and dealers should be focused on “their market”, i.e. where their skills and experience may bring them work!
However, our friend at KPMG and Rec They are much happier talking about the market and every month they issue their own Job Reporting Offering the latest trends based on recruitment feedback they have gathered. The report is divided into several sub-sectors, but the headlines speak of the broad labor market.
Their most recent data show that recruitment activity continued to accelerate from the record low created by the COVID-19 epidemic, while at the same time the availability of candidates decreased due to the combined effects of COVID-19 and also the Brexit that led to the announcement that “Peak high permanent placements and higher starting salaries mean it remains a job-seeking market” .
We are in a national shortage of manpower
In the UK economy, businesses are now looking for more staff than ever as the recruiting momentum after the plague continues.
At the same time, the report notes that the availability of candidates has now decreased in each of the last six months. The recent decline in availability is the sharpest seen since these figures were first collected in 1997. A combination of vacation, early retirement, withdrawal from the labor market and of course Brexit are some of the reasons raised why the UK economy is feeling. This pinch.
So how does this relate to project managers?
The report shows that project management falls under Skills in shortage today Both for the permanent staff and the temporary staff for some of the recruiters, but at the same time it also shows that project management falls under Skills in excess supply today Both for permanent staff and temporary staff for other recruiters.
Again this proves our theory that market level analysis is not great for the individual employee who may be a project manager with engineering skills.
If we look at the report again, we see that IT and computing are at the top of the permanent job index, followed by hotel and catering; a manager / professional comes in sixth (out of 10) on the list one after a blue collar.
In terms of temporary roles hotels and catering come first, followed by nursing / medicine and blue-collar; A manager / professional enters ninth place on the enrichment list.
So it seems to project managers some parts of the market may flourish while others may not, and both, in turn, are affected by the need for permanent or temporary work. What we can not see here but anecdotal evidence suggests that much of the current recruitment campaign focuses on business renewal as usual (BAU), re-recruitment of workers released instead of workers to start working. New projects and initiatives.
Further inflation of starting salary
Another common indicator for the “candidate market” is reward inflation, as organizations see increased competition for staff. In some areas of the market we see that this has resulted in higher starting wages and also for some employees, significant wage increases as the organization tries to protect themselves from the loss of existing workers to their competitors. As can be seen below, the most recent data showed the fastest increase in starting wages in almost 24 years and beat the previous record set only in July this year; A trend seen in all 4 monitored English areas.
Fear is also still a factor in the availability of candidates as we are waiting for the reassurance that the situation is improving and as such the risk of changing employer is not too dangerous!
Looking at the data reported by the Ministry of National Statistics (ONS), they see a + 8.8% year-on-year increase in employee earnings (including bonuses) with significant differences between the public and private sectors. In the private sector, earnings growth strengthened to + 10.1%, with a softer increase in the public sector of + 2.8%. Again, the effects of the epidemic will affect these numbers since in real terms prevalent in many areas of the private sector far more have been harmed by these jobs in the public sector.
What does this mean for you?
If you are considering a change at work, in positions or in a career, it may be time to take the next step. Take a good and long look at your skills and experience and research where they can be applied and then look at this sector / industry to see if they are in a state of growth, stagnation or decline.
If you are looking for a pay rise, look again at your sector and understand its trajectory; It may be time to look at transferable skills or for others, it may be time to switch employers to take advantage of a particular lack of skills.
No matter what you do do not follow the headlines, always take an in-depth look at your market segment.
You can see the full report on jobs >>> here