“EVERY sector is screaming out for staff” – that’s the message from Job Centre bosses.
Duncan Campbell from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP said: “Everything is heading in the right direction, although we are waiting to see what the impact of the ending of furlough is going to have, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.”
He added that September employment figures had been boosted by a series of jobs fairs across the county with employers keen to take part in them.
“Locally we are continuing to work with Amazon,” he said.
“We have gone through the full time jobs and now we are about to embark on the opportunities for part time staff.”
He acknowledged that there were still some skill shortages but that the Job Centre was running courses so people are equipped for the jobs available.
These course include the possibility of learning to become an HGV driver.
“We are trying to put on courses for HGV drivers but there is currently a hold up on testing and licenses,” he said.
“But we are still running other courses on things like forklift driving and so forth, in fact we’re working hard to put on as many courses as possible.”
He added the Government had also extended schemes like Kickstart to help young people gain experience while other initiatives for job seekers were also paying off.
Areas of particular shortage continue to be the hospitality and retail industries as well as in care workers.
