The uncertainty surrounding Britain’s prospective Brexit deal could be having a negative impact on the country’s employment, with the number of people in jobs having fallen for the first time since August 2018.
While the employment rate has been record-breaking for the last few months, it fell by 0.1 percentage points between March and May 2019 to 76 per cent.
This is when the UK was caught up in Brexit negotiations, with the government failing to establish an exit strategy before the agreed deadline of March 31st. The outcome of this continued disagreement among politicians would have meant leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal. However, Britain was given an extension until October 31st to agree a Brexit plan.
EU leaders granted this six-month extension to allow MPs enough time to come up with a solid strategy the majority could agree on.
Since then, Prime Minister Theresa May has resigned and a leadership battle between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt has ensued. The deadline for Conservative party members to vote for a new leader is the week ending Sunday July 21st, with the new Prime Minister to be announced two days later.
While Mr Johnson is the favourite to win the contest, this leadership uncertainty has added even more ambiguity to British politics. Not only has it not cleared up the disagreements surrounding Brexit, but it has meant UK citizens do not even know who their next Prime Minister will be.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the first quarterly decrease in the employment rate since June to August 2018 was experienced while this confusion was taking place, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
These figures coincide with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)’s Quarterly Economic Survey for Q1 2019.
According to this survey of more than 7,000 businesses, the percentage of companies trying to recruit new members of staff dropped from 67 per cent to 62 per cent during the first quarter of the year. This is the lowest level recorded since Q1 in 2012. Seventy-nine per cent of those that did attempt to hire new employees admitted to having “recruitment difficulties”, which is almost the record high.
Dr Adam Marshall, director general of the BCC, said: “Our findings should serve as a clear warning that the on-going impasse at Westminster is contributing to a sharp slowdown in the real economy across the UK.”
He went on to say: “The prospect of a messy and disorderly exit from the EU is weighing heavily on the UK economy, and must still be avoided.”
Despite this, the UK’s unemployment rate was still at 3.8 per cent, the lowest it has been since October to December 1974. Simultaneously, annual growth in average weekly earnings for British employees increased to 3.4 per cent for total pay (including bonuses) and 3.6 per cent for regular pay (excluding bonuses) between March and May 2019.
Therefore, there are still plenty of recruitment opportunities available for those looking for work, even with the current political instability.
For jobs in life sciences, take a look at what is available today.