Signs of Support in the 2011 Budget for Job Creation and Business

Copyright (c) 2011 Alison Withers

Businesses struggling to keep costs under control in the aftermath of the 2008 Great Recession have received some relief from the announcements on fuel duties in the UK budget.

Some of the measures announced by Chancellor George Osborne will take some time to have an effect but they are likely to give a significant boost to employers and therefore to jobs.

In February a survey by the research group Centre for Cities reported signs of job creation recovery with more than 1 in 3 new jobs created being in 11 cities including London, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Another piece of research published by the Home Learning College indicated that almost 50% of people felt optimistic about job prospects in 2011. Although only 26% in the same survey in 2010 believed their professional situation would improve during 2010 this figure had risen to 49% this year.

Hopefully the budget measures will help businesses to build on this. The creation of 21 new enterprise zones, extension of business rate relief for small businesses and measures to help create more apprenticeships and work experience placements will certainly help.

The REC, the recruitment industry's professional body, welcomed the budget and its Chief Executive Kevin Green welcomed "concrete steps announced to help businesses grow and take on new staff".

While he welcomed the reduction in corporation tax and the emphasis on young people's training and skills development he said there was still much more needed and he was disappointed that the increase in NI contributions had been kept and no action had been taken to look at current barriers in the benefits system that prevent unemployed people from taking on short-term job opportunities.

He would also have liked some assurances that the government would protect employers from any negative impact from changes to the regulations on agency workers and also that there was no detail on proposals to review employment law.

Nevertheless the budget was generally regarded as helpful for REC members such as recruitment agencies of all types and it should be especially helpful to the specialist and graduate recruitment agencies that place senior level executive and personal assistants.

If predictions are correct and the budget stimulates growth among the larger corporations these are precisely the sorts of organisations that are likely to need EAs and PAs.

Even so anyone seeking this kind of work will still have to demonstrate their superior skills to stand out from the competition and approach the job search as a full time job, polishing and tailoring their CVs to each job, perhaps also updating their skills and taking advantage of all the benefits of registering with a specialist recruitment agency with good contacts in their field.


------

Support for businesses in the UK's 2011 budget could be good news for business growth, job creation and for specialist recruitment agencies placing EAs and PAs in London. By Ali Withers.