Manufacturing_3

July's figures help to maintain this year's gentle upward trend, with around 300 more jobs available than at the start of the year

The number of jobs in manufacturing rose slightly in July after a small fall in June, with almost 2,700 positions advertised on Reed.co.uk's Market Index.

England had around 2,500 vacancies on offer, of which 2,400 were permanent and 100 temporary. The average permanent salary in England was £24,000, while that for temps was £18,000.

There were around 45 positions up for grabs in Scotland, with average salaries around £28,000.

Wales had around 140 jobs, with permanent salaries averaging £25,000 and temps £19,000.

Stephen Hill, operations director at Extrastaff, told Recruiter: "The market is generally busier, and the underlying demand has been up over the past 6-9 months. We are definitely busier than 12 months ago without it being manic."

However, despite more demand for semi-skilled temps such as assembly staff and production personnel, Hill said the company wasn't finding it difficult to get candidates. "We aren't finding a particular skill shortage at the moment," said Hill.

Hill believed that this was due to more online advertising and the company's visible high street locations. "There had not been much movement in pay, charge rates and margins," he said.

Robert Ding, managing director at Edinburgh-based KPI Recruitment, told Recruiter there was a shortage of candidates within the food manufacturing industry, with particular scarcities of food technologists, production and operational managers, and quality control/assurance staff.

He said there was some upward pressure on wages, with blue chip companies prepared to pay starting salaries of £22,000 for the best graduates, up from £20,000 two or three years ago. Yet other companies only paid £15,000.

However, any pay pressure was curtailed by the power of the supermarkets, which ensured that costs were always under pressure, he said.

Tim Cowell, managing director of Kent-based Manufacturing Recruitment, told Recruiter that around one in three companies were having difficulty in finding people. Cowell said that most shortages were for "mid-range" roles such as design engineers, electrical engineers, as well as purchasing, finance, marketing and logistics across manufacturing companies. Cowell said that engineers with an up to date automotive background were particularly in demand.

Cowell said that although around 50% of applications for engineering jobs came from well-qualified candidates on the government's Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, this was not the answer. "They may have excellent backgrounds from global companies, but we still find it difficult to place them as they don't have the language skills that clients require," he explained. In contrast, home-grown engineers were "instantly snapped up", he said.

Cowell said that despite skills shortages, salaries had "remained fairly static", though he admitted there were variations across the sector. In particular, he said that some automotive companies were so regulated by HR processes that they lacked the flexibility to raise salaries to get the staff. In comparison, some specialist manufacturers understood the need to raise salaries to attract good people, he said.

Those companies who were prepared to pay "above the market rate" filled their vacancies quicker, Cowell added. Similarly, he said there were fewer problems filling managerial roles as clients were prepared to be flexible on pay for "key personnel".

Cowell said that due to the long-term decline in manufacturing employment in the UK, the number of enquiries had fallen by around 50% since he entered the sector over a decade ago, although this was also due to more agencies entering the sector, he added.

The overall decline in the manufacturing sector had been compounded by companies shifting their operations to the Far East and Asia in order to keep overheads as low as possible.

On the positive side, however, Cowell said this had increased demand for people who had worked in these countries or had outsourcing experience.



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