Covid-19 – Business views on the future of employment and work

The Bank of England has released data from the latest phase of its long-running Decision-Makers’ Panel study (DMP), which gauges the views of influential business leaders.

The data shows that businesses expect most furloughed employees to return to regular work over Q3 2021 and that the intention to employ new workers is growing.

This is, in many ways, a positive finding – increasing demand for labour suggests strong confidence and accelerating economic recovery.

However, the “pool” of uncommitted labour in the UK is currently small, meaning that new workers may be hard find, especially if specific skills are required.

IGD’s contacts in the food industry suggest that this is already becoming a problem. Shortage of HGV drivers in particular is now presenting a serious challenge and the cost of employing drivers is rising raoidly.

Some businesses also report shortage of agency and short-term labour, especially in agriculture and horticulture.

The data also shows that employers expect mot workers to return to their normal workplaces over Q3 2021 – this may vary according to exact type of work, however.

Interestingly, this finding, taken from research with business leaders, appears to conflict with recent research from ONS, which suggests that workers themselves remain attached to working from home or hybrid working.