Don't expect too much, warns RHA
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iVEN PER CENT of employers expect to increase staff in the next Ile months and 50 per cent predict more work within the next 12 nths, according to a survey carried out by Manpower, which udes interviews with over 100 hauliers. But the Road Haulage ,ociationn views the figures with scepticism and says these Moyers are being over-optimistic.
lany more employers in the )cl transport industry, vever, predict cuts rather n staff increases for the months ahead but despite this, the decline in job prospects in recent months could be slowing down, says the survey.
At the same time last year, 22 per cent of employers said that they would increase their workforce, but only five per cent said they would do so in the first quarter of this year.
Projected staff reductions are down with 28 per cent of employers in road transport forecasting cuts — a marginal improvement on last quarter's 29 per cent. This time last year, only 18 per cent forecast cuts.
Half the employers (50 per cent) feel that there will be an upswing in workload within the next 12 months, 11 per cent within three months, 17 per cent within six months, and 22 per cent later than 12 months.
The RHA blames the Budget, which, it says, is likely to hold down re-employment until 1982. The industry is currently losing about 1,000 companies a year, which is an indication of the extent to which demand has fallen.
The RHA agrees that job prospects could be brightening slightly but says the private rather than the public sector is "taking all the knocks".
According to Manpower's survey, the regions most optimistic about an early upswing are East Anglia and North-east Scotland (due largely to its North Sea oil interests). The most depressed areas throughout industry are the West Midlands, North-east, and West Central Scotland, says. the survey.