The big question

The week Business Argus has been asking local business people if they have seen unemployment fall in their sectors.

Mathew Roderick, managing director, GD Environmental, Newport

We have noticed an increase in our business from the construction sector which is a good indication of the economy improving. This sector can have a significant impact on employment which then impacts on our employment levels. Our construction customers appear confident for the future and investment seems readily available which a very positive sign for the economy in general.

Dan Langford, group marketing and communications director, Acorn Group, Newport

The fall in unemployment is great news for the economy and jobseekers alike especially in Wales where the employment rate has improved faster than the UK and full-time jobs have been created over the majority of sectors. For us it meanswe have a wider variety of roles to offer jobseekers and we see this continuing over the next year. However, this growth is highlighting skills shortages which quickly need to be addressed, particularly in specialist IT and technical sectors. To effectively support economic growth Acorn is quickly developing strategies to find workers with specialist skills to meet these growing needs. Over the coming months we will be working closely with stakeholders and government to ensure these skills are developed in the longer term.

Guy Jones, NatWest's director of commercial banking for Cardiff and East Wales

We see a quiet optimism across our customers in south east Wales. At the beginning of last year the headlines were all about the risk of triple-dip recession and the weakness of the UK economic recovery. But growth picked up substantially throughout the year, hitting 2.7 per cent year on year in Q4 – the fastest rate of growth since 2008. The UK economy is near or on pre-crisis levels of output and against this background we are seeing businesses, particularly in those sectors more reliant on domestic demand, continue to benefit from higher consumer spending, which has been the real driver of the recovery so far, and sustained by stronger employment growth in the private sector. Wales lags the national picture which benefits from the South East of England and while unemployment in Wales has reduced it must still be a concern and priority for us all to ensure everyone in Wales benefits from economic growth. Welsh businesses continue to make investment decisions and we see growing order books, particularly from our manufacturing clients. But they also tell us that they do have concerns over skills issues in filling future vacancies.

David Callaghan, chief operating officer for Smart Solutions, Newport

The fall in UK unemployment has certainly had a positive effect on our business. As business picks up, organisations need to take on more staff to meet demand and, as a result, our clients have been looking to us to help them engage permanent and flexible staff. In addition to this, we’ve also experienced increasing demand from our clients to deliver training courses to existing employees, which has resulted in Smart Solutions Training expanding its team and employing five new members of staff. The demand for Smart Solutions’ outsourced services certainly reflects the growing confidence among the employers we are working with, as they are prepared to invest in personnel to service new business wins and take advantage of new opportunities.

Mike Morgan, owner, Llansantffraed Court Hotel, Abergavenny

The hospitality sector experiences peaks and troughs, often at short notice, and needs a flexible work force so casual labour is more common. Unfortunately, the level at which the welfare system provides support often means that, for many, it is not worth working part time for more than a very few hours per week. Growth in the tourism sector in Wales is predicted to be significant - 10 per cent in real terms by 2020 - so additional labour will be needed to cope with higher demand. With falling unemployment, recruitment could be difficult and it is crucial we maintain excellent quality. This in turn could mean hospitality owners begin recruiting from overseas.

Tim Millwood, Millwood Online, Abergavenny

Even though we've been in a recession for the last few years, the world of web design and development has seemed generally unaffected with strong growths in many areas. Finding a good employee, contractor or freelancer is often hard, and the fall in unemployment is only going to make this harder. The key in the the computing industry is also not about trying to find employees who are available for a position, but finding those who have the right skills. There has been a lot of media attention recently about the teaching of ICT in schools and how this rarely includes programming skills which are the most sort after. Online services such as Treehouse are also helping mature students learn programming skills to make them more desirable in the computing industries.