Job prospects tumble
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• Job opportunities in the road transport industry over the next three months show a marked decline, judging by the latest survey of employers in the haulage industry carried out by contract driving company Overdrive.
According to the survey, published by Overdrive's parent company Manpower, only 17% of haulage employers have any plans to increase their staff, compared with 24% last quarter, and 30% a year ago.
Job cuts are now being forecast by 15% of all employers surveyed, which represents a marked increase on last quarter's figure of 5%, and the same period last year (2%).
Compared with other industries in the services sector, job prospects in road haulage have fallen far behind. Overall 33% of service companies expect to take on more workers. This is unchanged from last quarter and 1% up on a year ago.
Figures for road transport are also poorer compared to the country as a whole, where the outlook is steady, after a notable upswing last quarter. Slightly fewer employers forecast they will be taking on workers compared with last quarter, but this is offset by the number of employers expecting to shed staff.
In the distributive trades sector 9% of employers are forecasting a decrease in their workforce, compared with 15% in the previous quarter. There is no change in the number of companies predicting a growth in their workforce — 24%.
Any trend in road haulage job prospects is apparent in the difference between the number of employers expecting to increase their staff levels, and those reducing them. In road haulage the balance stands at +2, with marginally more employers increasing staff levels than cutting them. This is a big drop from last quarter (+19) and 12 months ago (+28). The current index for the distributive trades sector is a more healthy +15, compared to +9 for the last quarter.