Transport

16-Apr-2008

Transport recruiters are predicting a strong year ahead, with 16% telling a GoSkills poll they experienced an increase in placements last year and only 8% seeing a decrease.

Jobcentre Plus reports that vacancies in the transport sector now account for 2.4% of the available jobs in England, 2.3% in Scotland and 1.9% in Wales.

Mark Hepworth, managing director of JobGroup.net, thinks the rise is linked to global trade and demand for supporting infrastructure. “Vacancies have increased 20% in aerodynamics, 6% in aerospace, 33% in automotive and 14% in highways engineering,” he told Recruiter.

In the UK several rail improvement schemes have created jobs in the sector. The largest is the Crossrail scheme to link Maidenhead and Heathrow to Essex and Kent. Costing £16bn, it is expected to create 30,000 jobs.

The supply of workers isn’t meeting demand and companies are experiencing difficulties finding suitable personnel. GoSkills found the causes to be “applicants lacking the necessary skills, a lack of interest in the sector and a general lack of applicants”.

“It’s not seen as a particularly sexy business,” said Malory Davies, editor of Logistics Manager magazine, “it’s always been hard to recruit.”

Reed.co.uk’s online market index shows that the number of job postings for permanent positions dropped from an average of 3,800 to 3,300 last year.

Ged Mason, chief executive officer of Morson Group, told Recruiter the fall is due to the current economic climate.

“Downsizing of the economy has historically led to a growth in temporary employment, and a decline in permanent, as companies try to keep competitive whilst having the skills they need,” he told Recruiter.

Hepworth added: “Many engineers now prefer contracts, as this provides the flexibility to move from project to project and negotiate accordingly, which is beneficial during the current skills shortage when technical talent is at a premium.”

While industry figures report an increase in temporary positions, online postings tracked by reed.co.uk have varied during the year from 500 last April to 1,000 in November and back down to 550 in March this year.

In Scotland there is a limited number of temporary postings online, with a year-long high of 110. Wales had less than 20 temporary jobs advertised at any point last year.

The average salary in the transport sector rose by over £3,000 in England to £26,000 and by £2,000 in Scotland to £23,000 last year. In Wales the average salary remained the same.

The logistics sector, which specialises in goods transport is estimated to be worth £55bn to the UK economy, accounting for around 6% of the UK’s workforce.

Its primary business is road freight with 82% of UK freight transported by this method.

The Air Transport Association has reduced its global industry profit expectations to $4.5bn for 2008, in response to a slowdown of global economic growth and an increase in the price of oil.

However, the industry is facing a potential boost with the newly launched Open Skies agreement which aims to increase air traffic by 11% by opening up more ‘lanes’ for planes flying across the Atlantic.

While the transport industry is seeing an increase in the number of employees, the amount of online advertising to recruit for jobs in transport and logistics is falling. A Workhound survey of online job postings found internet advertising in the transport and logistics sector has declined by 6% in the past six months.

Mason said Morson Group relies primarily on personal contacts, rather than online advertising, as “most people in our industry are gainfully employed already”.

Hepworth added that companies “cannot rely on traditional print advertising to fill these places” in the current climate of increased demand for personnel.


Sourced from Reed.co.uk’s market index