The Labour Market - 2nd Quarter 2000 Given slight increases in the proportion of respondents reporting higher employment in the second quarter than the first, and in that saying that they expect a further rise in employment in the third quarter, it might have been expected that they would also indicate some further tightening of the market for skilled labour. Overall, however, the proportion indicating difficulty in obtaining adequate supplies of skilled workers is slightly lower this time, 66% compared with 70% in the first quarter survey, but still higher than in the final quarter of 1999 (58%) As shown in Table 9, there are reductions in the overall proportions both for recruiting direct employees, down four points at 51%, and for hiring sub-contractors, down five points at 40%; but the reduction is not spread evenly across all trades. Indeed, the percentage indicating difficulty recruiting bricklayers as direct employees is up from 24% last time to 27%, whilst that for carpenters and joiners as direct employees is unchanged at 35%. Carpenters and joiners is still the category in respect of which firms report the most difficulty in filling vacancies.
Table 9 - % Reporting Difficulty in Obtaining Skilled Labour, Last Quarter   All trades Bricklayers Carpenters Joiners Plasterers Plumbers H&V Engineers   Direct Sub Direct Sub Direct Sub Direct Sub Direct Sub Northern 54 (27) 26 (11) 35 (12) 16 (10) 31 (11) 18 (7) 10 (5) 4 (5) 3 (16) 0 (2) North West 33 (51) 42 (55) 32 (40) 14 (43) 16 (32) 22 (35) 6 (27) 34 (24) 18 (8) 18 (15) Yorkshire/Trent 35 (69) 15 (22) 14 (22) 7 (11) 25 (33) 6 (2) 22 (14) 5 (6) 3 (12) 6 (8) Midlands 42 (60) 27 (54) 26 (23) 2 (6) 30 (47) 7 (24) 13 (18) 6 (33) 5 (10) 23 (40) Eastern 77 (45) 70 (60) 53 (26) 50 (37) 45 (24) 40 (44) 12 (3) 23 (25) 18 (10) 28 (13) London 53 (64) 51 (61) 14 (27) 18 (33) 46 (51) 18 (36) 13 (2) 23 (27) 13 (24) 34 (41) Southern 33 (43) 38 (41) 13 (15) 18 (26) 16 (26) 26 (32) 0 (13) 13 (17) 3 (11) 5 (7) South West 75 (61) 40 (46) 41 (32) 19 (24) 57 (38) 21 (24) 22 (15) 3 (8) 16 (19) 8 (10) National 51 (55) 40 (45) 27 (24) 18 (22) 35 (35) 20 (25) 13 (12) 14 (18) 10 (15) 16 (18)
Eastern Counties stands out as the region members of which have experienced relatively the greatest difficult in obtaining skilled labour, to work either as direct employees or as sub-contractors. In the South West also this survey has found three-quarters of all respondents indicating difficulty in recruiting direct employees, but relatively less concern over the availability of sub-contractors. Elsewhere, there are indications of improvement of the labour market situation facing members in all regions except Northern Counties, where the overall percentages are much higher than last time, as also are those for bricklayers and for carpenters and joiners. By comparison, Northern Counties shows the least level of concern over difficulties in obtaining plumbers and heating and ventilation engineers. Besides the trades results for which are set out in Table 9, there are still only a few instances of percentages reporting difficulty reaching double figures, and these are restricted to painters and electricians to work as sub-contractors. For both of these trades the proportions are highest amongst members in London Region, at 16% for electricians and 12% for painters. First posted: 18 September 2000. Last modified: 18 September 2000.