End of leave unlikely to solve driver and care staff shortages, says think tank | Job loss

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The shortage of truck drivers and care staff in Britain is unlikely to be resolved by laying off laid-off workers when the Job Protection Scheme ends at the end of the month, according to a study by a leading research organisation.

Resolutions said the mismatch between the types of jobs that are no longer needed and job vacancies in industries facing significant shortages of skilled employees will persist into the next year without government intervention.

The warning came as truck companies said a national shortage of 500,000 truck and truck drivers could drive up food prices.

Business leaders in the retail, wholesale and agricultural sectors have criticized the government’s response to the supermarket shortage after the exodus of EU drivers, who said they cannot be replaced with local drivers in the short term.

The Wholesale Distributors Association, which represents about 600 companies in the wholesale sector, said the companies are offering incentives and higher wages that should be passed on to retailers.

Business Minister Kwasi Kwarting last month rejected calls for the government to offer one-year visas to foreign truck drivers. He told business leaders that they need to train and support domestic workers rather than advocate for plaster solutions.

The Resolution Foundation report found that as many as 900,000 workers will remain on leave when employment ends on September 30, most of them are elderly or under the age of 25. While older workers may leave the labor market altogether if they are laid off and found, it said For young workers alternative jobs, there will likely be a rise in unemployment next month, perhaps from the current figure of 4.7% to 5.5%.

“Age remains an important factor,” the report stated. “While the under-25s is the age group most likely to be on vacation during most of the crisis, people over the age of 65 have recently become the group with the highest rates of vacation — and most likely to have been on extended periods of time — who are More at risk of losing jobs when the program ends.

Older workers also suffer more severe consequences from losing their jobs than other age groups. Workers over the age of 55 are less likely to return to work within six months of becoming unemployed than younger workers are, and they tend to have their pay cut significantly when they return.”

Tens of thousands of graduates are also expected to join the workforce in the fall, many after a year’s delay while continuing their education, putting additional pressure on the labor market.

Hannah Slaughter, an economist with the foundation, said the government should also protect workers who cannot find a job by maintaining the current level of universal credit.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, plans to cut universal credit by £20 a week from next month. £20 was introduced at the start of the pandemic, its loss would affect the incomes of 6 million families and around half of all UK children.

“With companies already reporting employment bottlenecks, it is unlikely that the new job increase will be enough to prevent a rise in unemployment this fall,” Slaughter said.

“Given the uncertainty surrounding the labor market, the chancellor must maintain a high £20 towards universal credit. Cutting support while unemployment is high is bad politics, bad economics and bad living standards.”

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