REC responds to Labour party business announcements - REC

Commenting on today’s business announcements by the Labour party, Kate Shoesmith, REC Deputy Chief Executive, said:

“Labour must follow through on its commitment to partner with business and job market experts to lessen ongoing skills and labour shortages, economic inactivity and exploitative contracts, and thereby deliver better work, better productivity and growth. But this must include a robust debate of why retaining a flexible labour market is as much pro-worker as pro-business. This is evident in our recent research which found a staggering demand for flexible work – with 25.7 million temporary and contract placements made by recruiters in 2022.

“Nowhere in the world has really banned zero hours contracts which suggests a more nuanced, rather than knee-jerk, debate is needed about their future.

“We cannot overstate how much employers want to work with politicians on the roadmap to much-needed economic growth. This makes today’s promise of pro-growth policies by Labour, such as greater stability in taxation, helpful in unlocking employers’ confidence in investing and hiring in their own businesses.

"Labour’s ambition to help small businesses must include reform of immigration, skills and training, as well as a broad review of public procurement rules. After all, more than four-in-five small employers with less than 50 staff are reporting shortages of candidates for their roles. This is a concern because they make up 99% of all business in the UK.”

Ends

Notes to editors: 

1. Worker shortages hit small employers the most – REC, January 2024
2. Recruiters filled 25 million temp and contract roles in a year, according to the latest REC industry report, December 2023

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Find out more about the Recruitment & Employment Confederation at www.rec.uk.com.