Member Article

North East businesses enhance workforce

Employment opportunities are increasing within North East companies according to the Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) from the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC).

The NECC said organisations in the region are creating jobs at the fastest rate since the recession set in.

Despite a four-year high for staffing levels, growth has slowed in the second half of 2012, with a particular decrease in manufacturing.

This slowdown has negatively impacted business confidence, after the first six months of the year produced the sharpest rise in optimism since 2008.

Growth in the service sector outdid manufacturers, as sales were reportedly down, while export orders also suffered.

Companies in the North East continued to perform “exceptionally” in overseas markets, regardless of negative setbacks in manufacturing.

NECC Director of Policy, Ross Smith, said: “While we may not have been able to maintain the general business optimism from the first half of the year, companies still expect the regional economy to pick up before the turn of the year.”

“Despite the falls in export orders, the North East continues to perform exceptionally well in overseas markets and this should continue even with the slowdown in growth of the manufacturing sector.”

Across the two Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the North East, Tees Valley showed more promising figures than the North East LEP.

Organisations in the Southern part of the region had stronger plant and training investment expectations, and a healthier outlook that those in the North.

Jo Hand, Managing Director of Jo Hand Recruitment, based in Middlesbrough said: “As an established recruitment agency in the North East, we are a barometer for the jobs market.

“We have not had this number of jobs come in all at once in our eight year history and represents an unprecedented surge. I believe there is a real demand in the economy again for goods and, subsequently, services.”

Bill McGawley, Chairman of TDR Training, based in Gateshead, said: “It is the uncertainty of planning ahead that really impacts on productivity and headcount, which impacts on small firms.

“The consequences of making over-optimistic best-guess decisions can be catastrophic.

“Until the global economic uncertainty and this state of unpredictability has stabilised,business will continue to be caught in the crossfire between over-committing and under-investing.”

Barclays works in partnership with NECC to carry out the quarterly business trends survey.

Chris Rigg, North East team director for the bank, commented: “We have seen stronger scores earlier in the year and I would hope that as we move into the final quarter this will start to come back again.

“The Eurozone issues have been well priced into markets, but until individual businesses see what happens, it does breed caution.

“Overall, our manufacturing strength in particular puts the North East in a good position to recover strongly and we can move forward with positivity.”

Ross Smith from NECC concluded: “Cashflow across the board is also very weak once again after it appeared scores were stabilising in recent quarters, which is worrying.

“Despite this, with strong performance on employment and export performance, we can see North East businesses working hard to generate a recovery for the UK.

“Amid this continuing uncertainty, it is vital that businesses see the same level of commitment from decision makers to create conditions conducive to stronger growth.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .