Principles of Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Principles of Human Resource Management - Essay Example The current labor market in the UK has grown steadily in accordance with the employment rate and the number of people employed from the years of 1995 to 2008 according to the Labor force survey published in the Blue book 2008. The office of National Statistics 2008 reports, "Employment tends to react to changes in out put with a lag because of the costs of hiring and firing workers. Therefore, it is not surprising that weaker output growth has not caused large falls in employment. Moreover, in the first instance, employers can vary labor input through the number of hours worked, rather than laying off workers." The construction industry today in the United Kingdom consists of over 250 000 firms employing over 2.1 million people. This huge work force is spread over a multitude of namely construction materials and products suppliers and producers, contractors, sub- contractors, professionals, advisors and construction clients. The United Kingdom construction output contributes 8.2% to the GVA (Gross Value Added) of the EU nations, which is the second largest. Below is the trend in the UK labor market represented in a graph. The graph, derived from figures published in the Blue Book 2008 reveal the labor employed in thousands across industries from the Year 1999 until 2007. It is a depiction of the Labor force trend in the UK. The graph showing an upward tren... Source: Fig 2.5 Pg 104 Blue book 2008 The above graph reflects a trend that has been steadily climbing over the years. However, the recent economic turmoil and the rise in the inflation have led to a complete crash of the housing industry affecting construction as a business and the employment in turn. The Olympics 2012 that proposes massive opportunities for this industry does not seem to stir or spur vibrant business in this sector as the people's daily reports "Builders of the 2012 Olympics facilities will have to compete for skilled workers due to a shortage in the labor market, according to Financial Times on Thursday. Construction Skills, a council established by the government to ensure that the industry has enough qualified workers, estimates that building for the Olympics will create 33,500 extra construction jobs over the next years. The peak year for employment would be 2010 when 7,500 workers would be needed, the council said. The construction industry forecast it needed 88,000 new recruits a year even before the Olympics were awarded to London." The above report indicates a shortage of labor in the UK for the construction business. Here's another report from the 'Thomson Financial' explaining the situation even more. The British construction industry has shown a"meek response" towards bidding for London 2012 Olympics projects which in turn could lead to a failure to achieve best value for money on the games, a group of British MPs said Wednesday. In a report, the committee said the 2012 games "represent a massive challenge for the construction industry". "The scale of the programme is twice that of Heathrow's recently opened Terminal 5, but must be delivered in half the time. It will use between