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Last updated: 3rd February
UK middle managers are feeling the squeeze as a result of the economic downturn, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey of 2,000 employees.
Almost half (49%) of middle managers say they are under excessive pressure either everyday or once or twice a week, compared to a survey average of 37%. They are particularly unhappy with their work-life balance; just 44% agree they are satisfied with their work-life balance, compared to 70% among employees with no managerial responsibilities.
In addition, middle managers worry most about their job security. One in three (29%) think it is likely they could lose their job as a result of the economic downturn, compared to 21% of employees with no managerial responsibility and 15% of senior managers.
Perhaps not surprisingly given these findings, middle managers are the category of employees that are most likely to be looking for a new job with a different employer, with 29% looking to move organisations compared to a survey average of 21%.
Where are the jobs?
Banking & Finance
Despite worrying signs from the Continent, the City remains, for the moment at least, buoyant, helped in no small part by the fact that it had reached a low point over the last couple of years.
Oil, Gas and Alternative Energy
With the oil price remaining high and BRICS driving demand, the energy sector is continuing to recruit. A combination of the demand for these commodities and the specific skills needed for job roles within the sector underpin this.
IT and Internet
As the UK struggles to grow, the IT and internet sector remains resilient, with jobs involving a technology skill base in demand by this dynamic industry that UK businesses rely on.
Customer Service
Still a huge employer in the UK and one that is still recruiting, albeit at a low skill level.
(Information from the Daily Telegraph and Total Jobs).
Becoming Self-employed
In its latest Work Audit report, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) questions whether the current 4.14 million record level of self-employment in the UK heralds a resurgent enterprise culture and concludes that the bulk of those at present taking the self-employed route to work are part-time ‘odd jobbers’ desperate to avoid unemployment.
The report, “the rise in self-employment”, based on official statistics, finds:
• By the spring of 2010 self-employment was higher than at the start of the recession in 2008 and by the autumn of 2011 had reached a record level of 4.14 million (14.2 per cent of total employment). At the latter date, the level of self-employment was 0.3 million (+8 per cent) higher than in spring 2008, compared with a corresponding fall of 0.7 million (-3 per cent) in the number of employees in work.
• The additional self-employed since 2008 are unlike self-employed people as a whole in terms of gender, hours of work, occupation and sector of employment.
• Although well over two thirds of self-employed people are men, women account for more than half (184,000, or 60 per cent) of the net rise in self-employment since the start of the recession.
• Whereas over two-thirds of self-employed people work more than 30 hours per week, almost 9 in 10 (88.8%) of the additional self-employed people since the start of the recession work less than 30 hours per week
• Almost a quarter of the UK’s self-employed people work in construction but the number of self-employed construction workers is currently lower than in 2008. By contrast, sectors with relatively small shares of self-employment – notably education, information and communications, financial and insurance services and public administration, defence and social security – are among those which have seen the biggest proportional increases in self-employment in recent years.
• Skilled trades-people – typified by ‘white van man’ – have the single largest share of self-employment (almost 30%) but account for less than 1 per cent of the net rise in self-employment since the start of the recession. People performing elementary (i.e. unskilled) occupations account for more than 20 per cent of the net increase, with those in administrative and secretarial and personal services occupations also registering large proportional increases.
Did you know?
The UK economy contracted in the last quarter of 2011 confirming the fears of many analysts.New figures show GDP fell by 0.2% in the final three months of the year following 0.6% growth in the third quarter.The figures released today by the Office for National Statistics show a fall in both manufacturing output and the production of gas and electricity.Output in the production industries decreased by 1.2% in the period, compared with an increase of 0.2% in the previous quarter.
Inflation fell sharply in December on the back of lower fuel and clothing prices. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation in the UK fell to 4.2% in December, down from 4.8% in November, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation - including mortgage interest payments - fell to 4.8% from 5.2%. It backs Bank of England predictions that inflation will be 2% by late 2012. The drop in the CPI rate was the biggest monthly fall since April 2009, and the lowest rate since June 2011.
Plane maker Airbus has reported record orders for 2011 - the company said it received 1,419 orders worth about $140bn (£91bn) last year, compared with 805 for its fierce US rival Boeing.
China's economy, the world's second-largest, grew at its slowest pace in more than two years, latest government figures show. Gross domestic product expanded by 8.9% in the three months to the end of December, from a year earlier. That is down from 9.1% in the previous quarter.
