Economic recovery boosts nation’s job confidence
Confidence in finding work has been increasing steadily over the past year.
National Careers Service
The most recent National Careers Service Job Confidence Index shows that the nation’s job confidence has been steadily increasing, since the Index was first released in August 2013.
4 out of 5 people (80%) became more job confident or maintained the same confidence levels in their job and ability to find work, an increase of 6 percentage points compared to last year.
Economic recovery has proved to be the main driver for job confidence, with 58% attributing their increase in confidence to the improving economic climate. This is an increase of 16 percentage points from 42% in August 2013.
The overall Index, which analyses people’s perceptions of the nation’s work and employment prospects, has increased by 3.6 points since August 2013 – taking the Index score up from 51.8 to 55.4 out of 100.
The research reveals that over two thirds (69%) of people agree that they have the right experience to find employment, an increase of 7 percentage points since last year, and 65% said they had the right skills and qualifications to find work, up from 57% since August 2013.
However, the nation still lacks confidence when it comes to some aspects of job hunting. Although three in five feel confident about developing a CV and an application letter, 42% of people do not feel confident in being interviewed for a job, compared to 34% in August 2013. In addition, 42% of the respondents said they would not feel confident about finding new work if they were unemployed.
Overall, the research shows that job confidence is increasing across all regions and sectors of society - including the unemployed. The West Midlands and London saw the biggest leaps in job confidence compared to one year ago.
All areas in the country agree that economic recovery is the biggest driver behind an increase in job confidence, with most agreement on this factor from East of England, (66%), followed by Yorkshire & Humber (64%) and the North West (60%).
Joe Billington, Director of the National Careers Service, said:
We are encouraged to see that the nation has become more job confident over the past year and is taking advantage of the opportunities that economic recovery offers. With more jobs on the market, however, interview skills become increasingly important and the research shows that there’s work to do to improve the nation’s confidence in this area.
The National Careers Service provides advice to people of all ages and at all stages of their working lives. We are here to support anyone who needs help with looking for work, whether it’s interview skills or CV development, and we urge them to get in touch with us today.
Get in touch with the National Careers Service by calling 0800 100 900 or search online.
