UK jobs market is 'sick man of Europe': study

LONDON: Britain's labour market is "the sick man of Europe" despite the nation's rapid coronavirus vaccination drive and state support for private sector wages, a study suggested Tuesday.

Recruitment firm ManpowerGroup UK, which polled 1,515 employers, concluded that the nation's labour market was the least optimistic across the continent.

ManpowerGroup's so-called net employment outlook stood at minus five for the upcoming second quarter, up from minus six in the first, a statement showed.

A positive figure indicates that more employers plan to increase rather than decrease hiring, but a negative number reflects the opposite.

"The UK may be leading the way on the Covid vaccine roll-out, but it's still the comparative sick man of Europe when it comes to hiring optimism," said ManpowerGroup UK head Chris Gray.

"This has been the weakest twelve months for the UK's jobs outlook in 30 years -- much worse than the 2008/2009 (global financial) crisis."

Gray expressed hope that hiring confidence will bounce back as the economy reopens.

"But the current message is clear: most employers are cautiously observing the impact of the vaccine roll-out and the longer-term effects of Brexit before taking major decisions on recruitment," he said

In a sign of labour market woes, recent official data showed the UK unemployment rate hit a five-year high of 5.1 percent in the final quarter of 2020.

However, the rate would likely be much higher in the absence of the government's furlough jobs support scheme paying the bulk of wages for millions of private-sector workers.

In his annual budget last week, finance minister Rishi Sunak extended the scheme until the end of September, five months longer than planned.