As recent temperatures soar, the unemployment rate in Britain remains at a 40-year low, creating the perfect conditions for businesses growth. Chesamel take a look at this year’s top sectors with predicted growth.

According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics the UK’s employment rate has remained at a record 75.6%, with 197,000 more people in work compared to October to December 2017. And with the number of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in work up 475,000 since 2015, the Government is making rapid progress on its commitment to increase BAME employment by 20 per cent by 2020.

Esther McVey, the secretary of state for work and pensions, said: “Since 2010 we have seen more than 3.2 million people move into work right across the UK”. However, this month’s figures also show that there are 806,000 vacancies in the economy at any one time.

Growth in 2018

Research by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) revealed that 67% of UK staffing agencies forecast revenue growth in 2018, up from 60% in 2107. Many companies will be looking to niche agencies for support with talent attraction strategies, and as the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) revealed earlier this year, 51% of companies are planning on growing their workforce in 2018.  

Last year, the sectors with the largest number of job vacancies were wholesaling, retailing and repair of motor vehicles and human health & social work. We take a look at this year’s top sectors with predicted growth.

IT/Technology

Increased demand for cyber security professionals – Unfortunately, last year saw a rise in cyber-related crime, increasing the need for specialists.

IT and Technology roles need many critical skills, which can make it difficult for business to resource the perfect candidate. The Chesamel zero time to higher method pillars both, talent resourcing from it’s pool of skilled professionals (Discover); placing the right talent in the right place, and re-skilling strategy (Learn); engaging your existing workforce with new skills to boost internal growth.

Construction

There is a huge skills shortage in construction, which has only been made more concerning with Brexit looming; there is uncertainty over new infrastructure and commercial projects.With many new projects planned in 2018, the future demand for staff for these projects will remain healthy, signifying that investment will return to the construction sector.

A report published by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) revealed that UK businesses are finding it ‘notably harder’ to recruit skilled staff as a result of a fall in net migration.

FinTech

The demand for niche tech skill sets in Financial Technology is so high that employers are increasingly relying on contractors as opposed to seeking permanent employees. Hakan Enver, an Operations Director from Morgan McKinley, said that “FinTech disruption isn’t in the future, it’s in the here and now”. The FinTech industry is set to dominate the UK economy further in 2018 and increased demand is clearly highlighted through the increase of job vacancies. Chesamel is an agency that specialises in sourcing niche skill sets, always placing people with the right skills in the right environment to promote business growth.

Manufacturing

New data heralds the manufacturing sector as the Brexit winner. CBI revealed that growth within the manufacturing sector is at a 30 year high, with the study attributing this growth to the weak pound meaning Eurozone economies are placing more orders with UK manufacturers. The last quarter of 2017, manufacturing enjoyed its best quarter for three and a half years, and this good fortune is expected to continue. Putting our agency professionals in the spotlight of a busy arena, there is a strong opportunity to help address the skills gap and provide worried employers with candidates who will make a positive impact on their business. Again, this echos the chesamel culture of placing the right talent in the right place, vs simply filling the position.

GDPR

The dreaded four letter word that has been filling our inboxes of late is worth its weight in gold. The new data protection regulations (GDPR), which became active as of May 25th is a legal framework replacing the 1998 Data Protection Act, and with it brings a huge 75,000 job opportunities. As businesses across the UK tackle the mind field of data and privacy changes, the need for GDPR experts has seen a steady increase, indicating the specialist sector’s continuous growth. Businesses, especially those processing personal big data will be required to appoint a Data Protection Officer, Chief Data Officer, Data Manager or Data Controller to take responsibility for ensuring data protection compliance.

Healthcare

Although there have been challenges and uncertainty regarding the IR35, the demand for health professionals is growing rapidly and at a steady pace, showing no signs of abating. Health Education England has drafted its first NHS strategy in 25-years as a result of chronic staffing and in a bid to tackle the skills shortage. It was revealed that the NHS is short of 42,000 nurses, midwives and therapists.
HFE also warned that if the rise in illness does not recede, we will need to increase the health service workforce by 190,000 by 2027.

Engineering

Front and centre. The government recently announced that 2018 is the Year of Engineering, to raise awareness and tackle the engineering skills gap, widening the pool of talent for young people who want to join the profession. The number of engineers retiring is outpacing the number of engineers graduating, according to Engineering Recruiting Director Adam Krueger, who says that job security and stability outlook is very positive: “Right now, the most active sectors in terms of hiring are the specialty chemicals, food/agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and plastics/petrochemicals sectors.” With a demand for around 69,000 people qualified at apprenticeship or equivalent level each year, engineering offers a very high opportunity for growth, and recruiting staff have an excellent platform to help address the skills gap.