GMB, are right to point out that the river Blyth’s emerging energy businesses need to pay top dollar and NFU’s call to increase the available workforce should be heeded.

 

With the news that the aggressive tactics of JobCentre plus has led to a fall in unemployment to well below pre-pandemic levels and that many of the last of the 'baby boom’ workforce have decided to not look for further employment has thrown the jobs market into complete disarray.

The office for National Statistics ONS, said there were 1.34million unemployed in the quarter to January, down 88,000 on the previous million recorded in December to February 2020, with unemployment sitting at the lowest level for 40 years, 3.9%.

They also recorded that wages had gone up and the figures for ‘false self-employed’ had dropped accordingly with a jump in the number of workers on payrolls up by 275,000 to a fresh record of 29,700,000 with the demand for workers very strong indeed with an increase in vacancies of 105,000 taking the vacancy figure to 1,3 million.

Huge organnastion have made recent comments, led by the National Farmers Union following the release of the ONS report, they have urged Home Secretary Priti Patel to lift the ban on asylum seekers taking paid employment - saying the business case for lifting the ban is "more urgent than ever". They have joined voices with recruitment agency Adecco,  and law firm DLA Piper and among others saying: "Recruiters, labour providers and hiring businesses are struggling to fill the vacancies that exist in today's labour market. Yet there are thousands of people in the UK, skilled, resilient and willing, who could be working but are not allowed."

This follows in the wake of the following comment from the General, Manufacturing and Boilermakers (GMB) trade union. Local convenors for Northumberland commented on the shortage of workers and pointed out that the new emerging energy companies settling in the river Blyth estuary area who expect to recruit over 8000 workers as they come online, will have to pay very competitive rates of pay in order to secure the long term workforce of employees which the new businesses will have to skill up at their own cost to produce the tactile energy products required for the future.