Recruitment ‘all-time high’ for Norfolk firms

B2B event at Carrow Road. Caroline Williams. Photo: Bill Smith

Jessica Staufenberg, Business Writer Thursday, January 8, 2015
6:36 PM

Norfolk’s employment picture has shown further signs of strength after recruitment figures reached an “all-time high” in the manufacturing and services sectors.

Norfolk’s employment picture has shown further signs of strength after recruitment reached an “all-time high” in the manufacturing and services sectors.

The number of business in the county looking to recruit staff in the last three months has increased significantly in both areas, according to Norfolk Chamber Commerce’s quarterly economic survey, which questioned 100 businesses in

Norfolk and 400 across the East of England.

The findings showed that the balance of manufacturing firms trying to boost their workforce rose 24 points from +76pc in the third quarter, while in services balances increased 32 points from +68pc over the same period.

However, both sectors posted “mixed results” when it came to performance to the end of the year, with manufacturing shrugging off recent signs of a slowdown by notching an increase in the balances for export orders, while domestic sales and orders continued a downward trend.

Caroline Williams, chief executive of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, said “a level of caution” was reflected in the latest figures.

“Although manufacturing employers continued to be confident and invested in staff and training,

the service-sector employers showed a slight slowdown in terms of

investing in training and staff, as their confidence in overall profitability was down,” she said. “Increased concerns surrounding pay settlements may be one of the reasons for this.

“Positively, export orders for Norfolk’s manufacturing sector have improved in both Norfolk and the East of England and the UK sales figures Norfolk’s service sector in this quarter increased from the previous quarter.”

The county’s services sector reported a 14 point increase in its domestic sales balances to +51pc, while domestic orders dipped 19 points to +17pc.

Export sales were notably different between the sectors, with the former reporting a 27 point increase to +60pc, as sales in the services sector continued to weaken.

Do you have a business story for the EDP? Contact business writer Jessica Staufenberg on 01603772531 or email jessica.staufenberg@archant.co.uk

4 comments

Mark. Any chance of a breakdown of the jobs such as Permanent, part time, seasonal, zero hour, full pay, minimum wage etc. Your statement that it has been a 'record year' holds nothing without facts to back it up.

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"V"

Friday, January 9, 2015
At Cooper Lomaz Recruitment we're the busiest we've ever been. 2014 was a record year and we anticipate 2015 to be even busier. It really is a mark that the local economy is going in the right direction.

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Mark Fletcher

Friday, January 9, 2015
No signs of Williams mentioning City-Link or Tesco, or dont job losses look good on her ?

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"V"

Thursday, January 8, 2015
Full time jobs paying the Minimum wage or Living wage or simply apprenticeships? If every Company in every sector had to pay the minimum wage then they wouldn't exist due to going bust. Still I suppose they will have to fill the lost Jobs from Tesco and Citylink somehow.

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Simon Bramley

Thursday, January 8, 2015

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