Why
are so many jobs left unfilled in the economy?
Official
unemployment has been falling for over six years yet the total stock of
unfilled vacancies has remained at a very high level for some time. See the
chart below.
One
reason is that the new jobs created in the economy are not taken by the
registered unemployed. Instead they are taken by new and re-entrants into the
labour market (including females joining the active labour force and recently
qualified graduates).
Long-term
structural unemployment remains
a problem and many of those out of work do not have the specific skills,
qualifications and relevant work experience to fill the available jobs. They
suffer from occupational mobility of labour and require specific help to get
them back into employment.
Labour
introduced the New Deal in the
spring of 1998 but it will be some time before New Deal and other employment
training programmes to have any significant impact.
Another
cause is the disincentive effects of the welfare system. Many vacancies offer
relatively poorly paid jobs with little job security.
For
low-income households looking for new work, the “poverty
trap” created by the interaction of the tax and benefit system is a
real hurdle to them accepting paid employment. As a result many lowly paid
jobs remain open.
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