The Employment Outlook in Wales has fallen but employers are still planning to hire, with an Outlook of +4 per cent, according to Manpower, the global leader in contingent and permanent recruitment workforce solutions.

This is a drop from last quarter’s Outlook of +12 per cent but still demonstrates a healthy level of confidence in the Welsh jobs market.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is based on responses from 2,101 UK employers. It asks whether employers intend to hire additional workers or reduce the size of their workforce in the coming quarter. It is the most comprehensive, forward-looking employment survey of its kind and is used as a key economic statistic by both the Bank of England and the UK government. The national Seasonally Adjusted Net Employment Outlook of +8%[1] indicates that the jobs market is up on the second quarter of 2014 when the Outlook was +7 per cent.

Andrew Shellard, operations manager at Manpower, said: “Although the Outlook in Wales is down this quarter, there is still a lot of opportunity in the market, especially for candidates with in-demand skills.

“A number of clients are looking for candidates with legal experience, particularly solicitors and legal secretaries. Specialist scientific and engineering companies are also finding that candidates with science and technology experience are in short supply.

“We have noticed more demand for catering staff, and while these skills are readily available, there is a high turnover as the roles are often part-time making it difficult to retain staff looking to work more hours. Retention is also an issue in some of the call centres in Cardiff, where experienced and good quality customer service and sales people are needed and so companies are constantly advertising and trying to attract new staff.

“The picture by city is mixed, with Cardiff demonstrating a real improvement over the last three months, with the number of people out of work falling by five per cent. There is considerably more opportunity in Cardiff than in Newport with Cardiff also offering more variety whereas the dominant industry in Newport is manufacturing.

“One key trend we have seen this quarter is that employers now understand the importance of social media and want support and advice so they can improve their understanding. Most companies we have spoken with want a social media guide and we have helped provide this during a recent social media-focused campaign.”

Going into the third quarter of 2014, there is optimism across all of the UK’s regions with the exception of Northern Ireland (-5 per cent). It is the only region expecting to shed jobs in the next three months. The South West tops the regional table, improving strongly to +15 per cent, while the East of England isn’t far behind on +12 per cent. The East Midlands (+11 per cent), the South East (+9 per cent) and the West Midlands (+9 per cent) all exceed the national average, while Yorkshire and Humberside is in line with the national picture at +8%. Below the national average, but still showing positive hiring intentions are the North West (+7 per cent), the North East (+6 per cent) and London (+1 per cent).

Turn to page 2 to find out what Gwent business people think about the recent announcement that unemployment has fallen to its lowest level for a number of years.