The UK has been hard hit by the global financial crisis. Unemployment is the highest since long with a rate of 7.9% and in the Pre-Budget Report, Allistair Darling also admitted that the recession in the UK had been worse than he predicted last year.
But now it's time to start looking at the positive developments that are happening.
The Report on Jobs from the REC and KPMG showed upward trends in both permanent and temporary/contract staff appointments during the month of November. Nursing/Medical/Care was the most in-demand category of permanent staff, while Engineering/Construction employees were the most sought-after temps. According to Kevin Green, REC Chief Executive, the November figures showed the fastest rise in permanent jobs for 28 months and employers in nearly all sectors were lifting recruitment freezes and starting to hire again.
If you are looking for a job or expect to graduate soon, then take a look at the fastest growing sectors and jobs in the UK. Here are 10 jobs predicted to experience the most growth and demand throughout 2010.
Chefs
Approximately 19 percent of all vacancies in the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector are proving hard-to-fill due to a shortage of skilled applicants, People 1st (the Sector Skills Council) report. Chefs remain the occupation that employers find most difficult to recruit for, mainly due to a lack of applicants with the required skills. Apprenticeships will play an increasingly important role in developing chef skills in the workplace. The Apprenticeship provides a viable alternative to full-time college courses for those wishing to go straight into industry.
Engineers
Britain needs more engineers: The annual health check on the state of the industrial labour market from the Engineering and Technology Board found that the UK will need an extra 587,000 engineers between now and 2017 with advanced skills to rival those in other developed economies. According to the report, the UK has great potential to rebalance its economy by drawing on its strong manufacturing base. At present, the number of new engineers entering the workforce is running at just over 40,000 a year.
Environmental consultants
By committing to cutting greenhouse gases by a third by 2020, Britain has the first legally binding "carbon budget". The target changes the way the UK generates and uses energy. With UK businesses under pressure to reduce their emissions and 'go green', the demand for environmental consultants is anticipated to increase further over the next year as we edge closer to the deadline for all businesses to derive at least 20 per cent of their energy from renewable sources by the year 2020.
Home carers
Recent independent research commissioned by Consultus Care and Nursing Agency revealed that the option to stay at home rather than move into residential care was the preferred choice for over 75's nationwide. There are 2 million registered disabled people, and about 3 million carers in the UK, which makes care work a booming industry where numbers are expected to grow with the aging population. The demand is so high that many carers from abroad come to the UK.
IT specialists
The UK technology sector employs around 1.5 million people and with this it plays an important role for the recovery of the UK economy. According to Stephen Kelly, CEO of Micro Focus, the most successful UK software companies have continued to perform well during the recession. In order for the IT sector to help start the recovery of the economy, the first step to achieve this is to get more qualified and talented people to choose IT as their career.
Medical practitioners
According to the Conservative party, there is a shortage of senior medical staff in hospital accident and emergency departments. So far, the shortage has been balanced by recruiting doctors from outside Europe, but the government announced plans to tighten the immigration point-based system. The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that restrictions on recruiting doctors from outside Europe could cause a shortage of medical staff. More people in the UK need to decide for a career as a doctor.
Nurses
There are acute shortages across the UK nursing sector. Recruitment experts from Hays have reported that the most affected areas for nursing jobs are in critical care (ITU), A&E, theatre, intensive care (ICU) and accident and emergency medicine nurses. A combination of more effective utilisation and retention of skilled nurses, increased emphasis on training new nurses and, in the short term, increased international recruitment, would seem to provide the optimal solution to the nursing jobs crisis. According to a poll conducted by magazine the Nursing Times the UK had 400,000 practicing nurses in 2008, with 180,000 due to retire within the next ten years.
Pharmacists
According to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, pharmacists are the country's main experts in medicines and pharmacy is one of the fastest growing areas of healthcare. The developments in science over the next 50 years will lead to the introduction of new medicines for all kinds of illnesses and diseases. Pharmacists will be involved with these new medicines every step of the way, from their development in the lab to their distribution in the community and in hospitals.
Primary school teachers
Britain is facing a shortfall of 18,000 primary school teachers needed to keep class sizes under 30, a report by the think-tank Policy Exchange has found. The report says that official statistics predicted the number of primary school-aged children would have grown by 500,000 by 2015. It calculates an extra 18,000 teachers will be needed by then if class sizes are to be kept at their current average of 26.2. The most severe shortages are in key subjects such as maths, science and modern languages.
Social workers
Despite high unemployment rates during the recession, not enough children and families social workers can be recruited from within the UK. So the Essex County Council advertised job openings for social workers in Australia and New Zealand last spring. Also recently retired social workers were urged by the Local Government Association (LGA) to return to work to solve staff shortages. Approximately 13,000 new recruits are needed for this very challenging, but rewarding profession.