March 5, 2018
UK progress on opportunities for women in the workplace slows
New PwC research claims that the UK is not making progress fast enough to improve female economic empowerment in the workplace. Despite improvements since 2000, these gains have been outpaced by other countries’ efforts, according to the report. In particular, slow progress in closing the gender pay gap, coupled with a persistent low share of females in full-time employment, has put the brakes on the UK making bigger strides towards gender equality in the workplace. The latest Women in Work Index claims the UK has fallen slightly from 14th to 15th place in a ranking of 33 OECD countries based on five key indicators of female economic empowerment. Although labour market conditions for women improved, the UK was outpaced by better performance from other OECD countries. Since 2000, the UK’s position has improved from 17th place and it compares well to other G7 economies, being second only to Canada. The Nordic countries continue to lead the Index – with Iceland, Sweden and Norway rated as the top three countries for opportunities for women in the workplace.
A new report a new report by the Centre for Ageing Better has called for government and employers to support older workers to stay in work for longer, help those who have fallen out of work involuntarily to return and to create workplaces that work for all, irrespective of age. The report claims that ensuring older workers are able to stay in good quality employment is essential to the future of the UK economy and will relieve pressure on public finances. It makes some key recommendations that include access to flexible working hours and workplace adaptations to help people manage pressures such as caring responsibilities and health conditions, which become more prevalent with age. It also calls for equality of opportunities in the workplace as older workers in the UK experience age discrimination in recruitment and progression. They are less likely to be offered opportunities for development – across the whole of the OECD only Turkey and Slovenia have lower levels of on-the-job training for older workers than the UK. Research shows they are also the most likely to be stuck on low pay and feel most insecure about their jobs.
Demand for labour is likely to remain relatively strong in the near-term which is one of the main reasons why employers support a national approach to tackling the UK’s skill and labour shortages post-Brexit, in comparison with a regional or sectoral one. According to the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook from the CIPD and The Adecco Group the preference for a national labour or skills shortage occupation scheme reflects the main reason given by organisations for employing EU nationals, which is that they have difficulty finding local applicants to fill lower skilled roles, as cited by 18 percent of employers. The national survey of more than 2,000 employers found that the relative majority of employers (41 percent) would prefer a UK-wide immigration system that is based on national labour or skill shortage occupations in the likely event of migration restrictions once the UK leaves the European Union. In contrast, around one in ten (13 percent) favour a sector-based policy and just 5 percent would back a regional policy.
There have been 18 months of faltering net effective rents within the commercial office market in the Capital since the Brexit referendum, with ten of the 18 Central London office submarkets monitored in Cluttons’ latest London Office Market Outlook report registering rent falls in the final quarter of 2017, buoyed by additional incentives such as contributions to fit out costs and even delayed completions becoming commonplace in many locations. The report also raises concerns about the potential for an oversupply of serviced offices within the Capital. However, despite this and a perception that Central London offices are currently fully prices or possibly over-priced, by both occupiers and domestic investors, London remains a resilient city, continuing to attract high volumes of overseas capital. Employment growth is of course expected to be influenced by both the levels of GDP growth during 2018 and the Brexit divorce proceedings, which in turn will affect rental values. But says the report, aside from concerns over Brexit, there is no evidence from recruitment agencies to suggest a current, or planned exodus of finance and banking professionals from the City.
