Ice Respond To Spending Cuts And The Cipd's Predictions For Future Employment Figures

By Author: thomastelford
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The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has sparked some debate following its predictions for the future of the employment market in the UK. Their predictions are significantly more pessimistic than the figures that the Treasury Committee have put forward.

The CIPD have asserted that the cuts to public spending (alongside a rise in VAT) will affect unemployment rates far more than the Government claim. The CIPD claim over one a half million jobs will be lost as a result of the Government's attempts to cut the budget deficit.

MP Michael Fallon, a member of the Treasury Committee, told the CIPD that their figures were nonsense and less reliable than a dead octopus. The quip is in reference to the recently diseased ‘Paul the psychic octopus' who famously predicted football results during the 2010 World Cup. As John Philpott of the CIPD pointed out, Paul the Octopus was actually pretty accurate while he was still alive. Philpott added [the CIPD] based their analysis on a reading of the economy, what we know about the outlook for the public finances and what people who are employing people ...
... expect.

The Institute of Civil Engineers has also voiced its concerns regarding unemployment rates after receiving the latest unemployment figures for recently graduated civil engineers. The statistics, released by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (Hescu), showed that nearly 12% of civil engineering graduates are unemployed.

The Government are resolute that their spending review and employment forecasts are both necessary and accurate. The Institute of Directors has supported the Government, saying that it is dangerous to make predictions on little more than a guess. There is, of course, no doubt that the debate will go on for some time.

Peter Hansford, the new ICE President, spoke of his concerns regarding the latest unemployment figures. He said ICE's own report showed that the UK's infrastructure needs a complete overhaul to be fit for future and it is our profession who must deliver it. I can not reiterate strongly enough, now is not the time to make short-term cuts to graduate employment which will have long-term negative impacts for industry. ICE is committed to helping industry retain and develop its skill base so we can meet the challenges ahead.

Peter Hansford is not alone in his concerns; there seem to be an increasing number of sector professionals who are worried that unemployment in civil engineering specifically will damage the sector in the long run. There will certainly been a pressure on the private sector to ‘soak up' the job losses felt in the public sector and many - including the Recruitment & Employment Confederation - feel the Government need to do far more to aid this process.

The priority for ICE is, and always has been, to ensure that the sector is in a position to develop its skill base and meet the challenges ahead. Maintaining a focus on the challenges ahead and long-term objectives is surely the most positive way to approach decision making going forward from the spending review.

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