Gloucestershire jobless much lower than feared, says Ian Mean
By Ian Mean, Business West Gloucestershire director | 1st December 2021
Not too long ago, it was forecast that Gloucestershire might be expecting between 12,000 and 15,000 people out of work at the end of furlough in September.
Happily, that estimate is wide of the mark and the final figure could be much lower at around 8,500.
At the same time, job vacancies in the county have rocketed and to over 43,000 posts available.
These are quite extraordinary figures which are also quite difficult to understand.
The benefits claimant rate at 3.2% is obviously higher than pre-Covid but nowhere near what we thought it would be.
We have no figures as yet, but my guess is that there will be people in their 50s who have decided during Covid to look at changing their careers.
And there will be skilled engineers, for instance, nearing retirement who have decided to take the opportunity to leave earlier.
One big thing that Covid has taught us is that we need to anticipate future challenges in employment far quicker.
That means government must look to ensure that Further Education colleges have the funding to develop courses to fit the jobs of the future.
For instance, that could be encouraging green skills to meet the demands of Net Zero whether in business or the home.
Better skilled people mean better productivity and a growing economy for Gloucestershire.
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