UK jobs market 'contracting' but not everybody is gloomy

BRITAIN'S jobs market faces a "slow, painful contraction" according to an employment think tank. But another survey has found that nearly half of businesses think their staff headcount will be higher in a year's time.

First, the bad news. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has just published its quarterly survey of 1,000 employers - and it concludes that further rises in unemployment "seem inevitable", given that public sector job losses are higher than expected and private companies are scaling back recruitment.

The one glimmer of hope is that the private sector's "wait and see" policy also means fewer redundancies. Nevertheless, says the CIPD, the crisis in the eurozone suggests medium-term prospects for employment are poor.

Contrast that with the findings of the Confederation of British Industry, whose survey, according to The Independent, claims that 47 per cent of employers expect staff numbers to be higher in a year's time. Only 19 per cent of firms expect to have reduced their headcount in this time frame.

Adding to the relatively rosy picture is the fact that only seven per cent of firms are operating a recruitment freeze - compared with 61 per cent in 2009.

However, any good news in the jobs market must be tempered by the poor state of youth unemployment. The BBC points out that in two day's time, the Office for National Statistics will publish its latest jobless figures - and they are expected to put the total number of 16- to 24-year-olds out of work above a million. ·