UTILITY WEEK | 6TH - 12TH MARCH 2020 |
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Operations & Assets
continued overleaf
constrained labour market – a record high
employment rate estimated of 76.5 per cent,
with 33 million people aged 16 and over in
employment. Furthermore, there were an
estimated 1.29 million unemployed people.
This is 73,000 fewer than a year earlier and
580,000 fewer than five years earlier.
"I look at the structure underneath this,
before we even look at the immigration
rules. Have we done our own housekeep-
ing to make sure the utility sector can fight
its corner?" says Nick Ellins, chief executive
of EUS.
He adds: "What it [the ONS] basically says
is, we are at the absolute peak of restriction
in the labour market: employment is at the
highest levels ever and unemployment is at
the lowest ever.
"When you look at the people who aren't
working, who could be available for work,
Poaching is a real concern and there is a fear that
under the government's proposals the utilities
sector could find it even harder to retain workers.
there's very limited numbers of young peo-
ple, very limited numbers of females, and
very limited numbers of the less-abled.
"The gist of it is, of the people you'd go
to for talent, you'd either go to the people
who are not currently working – and it's the
most limited talent pool there has ever been
– or you'd have to go to people who already
employ that person and poach them. Those
are the two options we face."
Poaching is a real concern for Ellins and
EUS and there is a fear that under the gov-
ernment's proposals the utilities sector could
find it even harder to retain workers.
Much of the debate of recent weeks has
centred on the adult social care system
which, according to workforce intelligence
specialists Skills for Care, employs more than
1.6 million people. Of these, around 250,000
posts are held by people with a non-British
nationality. Ellins worries that other sec-
tors such as social care could begin looking
inward to the UK jobs market, which would
put pressure on filling non-engineering roles
in the utility sector.
"Quite naturally the sort of people we
would now use for utility services, particu-
