Strong Investment in Food Manufacturing Drives Uplift in Local Jobs
Food Manufacturing hires in the East of England are up by more than two thirds in the first three months of 2017 compared to the final three months of 2016, the Cooper Lomaz Employment Indicator can reveal. It can also reveal that hires are up by a third compared to the same period in 201, which bucks the trend of the other core technical sectors, which are largely down Year on Year.
The availability of highly-skilled candidates within Food Manufacturing has been the biggest challenge within the sector, with 11% fewer candidates actively looking for work at the start of 2017 compared to the start of 2016. However, there has been a significant uplift compared to the end of 2016, which is a common trend across all technical sectors due to a lack of recruitment activity over the Christmas period.
Due to significant acquisitions, mergers and investment in the region we’ve seen that the amount of advertised jobs in the Food Manufacturing sector is up 28% over the same period last year, and 31% compared to the last three months of 2016.
Cooper Lomaz Commercial Director Simon Brown says “Currently despite the fact that we’re seeing a shortage of food manufacturing candidates, it is a great time for food manufacturers in the East of England. It’s turbulent at times with recent mergers and acquisitions, but many of the smaller firms have been able to expand.”
News in other sectors suggest that there is balance and buoyancy, despite hiring within the IT sector being down by 32% compared to the same period of last year. This is largely due to the severe shortage of candidates, which were also down 32% in this period.
Why Cooper Lomaz compiles the Employment Indicator:
Cooper Lomaz compiles the Employment Indicator at the end of each 3 month period to provide free valuable insight for businesses and candidates about how the employment market in East Anglia is performing.
Cooper Lomaz believes that this information is important to the regional economy and therefore should be freely available so that local businesses and candidates know what employability is like in their sectors.