Young people are struggling in today’s labour market, with intense competition for work in some areas, according to a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
However, the report – ‘The challenges for disadvantaged young people seeking work’ – finds that location plays a key role in a jobseeker’s chances of success.
The report looked at three labour market areas of varying strengths: weak, medium and strong. Researchers sent in more than 2,000 applications by fictional characters for real jobs as well as interviews with disadvantaged jobseekers, employers and labour market intermediaries.
The report was published as today’s unemployment figures were released, showing a 62,000 fall in the number of 18-24-year-olds who are unemployed.
The report found that overall there was a shortage of full-time daytime work. Half the jobs were for the minimum wage.
However, competition varied from five jobseekers per notified vacancy in the strong labour market area to more than 10 per vacancies in the medium and weak labour market areas.
Local candidates have an advantage when applying for low-skilled vacancies, the report found. This was especially the case for jobs with non-standard hours, as locals could be better relied on to get to work on time.
Retail was particularly competitive, with 66 young people chasing every retail job advertised in the worst hit areas and 24 in less badly hit areas.
Neil Yorke, a director of industrial and distribution recruiter The Best Connection, tells Recruiter that young people are finding it particularly hard to secure permanent work. “We are not finding a problem finding workers; we are finding a problem finding work for workers… People who are looking for permanent work are struggling.”
Yorke agrees there are variations between different areas of the country, but adds “I wouldn’t say it [the labour market] is strong anywhere.”
And he says there are some pockets of the country where some local people are not prepared to take jobs at the prevailing wage rates and where the jobs are being taken from those living outside the area.
The report suggests that because employers prefer local candidates, jobseekers who simply searched for work more widely may not necessarily improve their chances.
Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, adds: “Youth employment, though the lowest it’s been in over a year, is still unacceptably high and is unavoidable evidence that the government’s Youth Contract is not yet delivering. Relentless increases in the number of long term unemployed is worrying too as even when the economy picks up those hard core of unemployed may find they are permanently left behind.”
The report also found that because employers who advertise online tend to close them quickly as intense competition means that the applications limit is soon.
Contrary to perceptions, there was no evidence of postcode discrimination. The report suggests that the internet acts as a safeguard by providing a degree of anonymity.
Candidate care was also an issue with seven out of 10 applicants not hearing anything back from the employer.
However, there were substantial variations between local areas and occupation types; candidates in the weak labour market had to make twice as many application to generate the same number of positive responses as those in the strong area.
Office administration candidate needed to make almost double the number of applications as accounts clerks to get the same responses. However, typically the fictional candidates received a positive response such as a request for interview or more information to their fourth application.
Source: 17th October 2012 - Recruiter
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