A survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has found that more firms than not expect to create jobs next year for the first time since the start of the recession.
Entitled On the Up, the trends survey, which interviewed firms that between them employ more than a million people, discovered that 51 per cent of firms expect their workforce to be larger in 12 months’ time, with private sector workforces anticipated to grow across all regions.
Some 35 per cent of those polled said they plan to increase the number of permanent staff, while only 17 per cent said they would decrease their full-time workforce and 14 per cent said they would add to the number of temporary workers they employ.
However, of those surveyed only 7 per cent said they were planning pay rises of above the Retail Price Index (RPI), while 42 per cent said any wage rises would be In line with inflation and almost 40 per cent reported that any increase in pay would be below RPI.
Meanwhile, there are also an increasing number of opportunities for young people to find work, with companies planning to take on more graduates and apprentices.
A third of those surveyed expected to increase the number of graduates they take on and around the same percentage want to boost their apprenticeship numbers. In fact, over 80 per cent in total said they expect to create new job opportunities for young people next year.
Encouragingly, the survey also found that the growth in private sector workforces was evenly spread throughout the country, not just based in London and the South East. In fact, business owners in Yorkshire and Humberside and the East Midlands were the most optimistic about new hires.
