The recession's effect on employment continues to take its toll of Hays, Europe's biggest recruitment group, which yesterday announced a further 250 UK job losses alongside a 31 per cent slump in fee income. The gloomy trading update came as forecasters said that unemployment in Britain could rise to 11.7 per cent by the end of 2017, implying 3.6 million out of work, up from just over 2 million today. Hays itself has been forced to cut its cloth in tune with the resultant fall in fee income, reducing its headcount by a further 9 per cent — or 250 jobs — in its third quarter, to March 31, taking the total losses over the past 12 months to about 900, a fall of 27 per cent. Including its overseas operations, Hays reported an 11 per cent cut in its number of recruitment consultants. That takes the total reduction in the financial year to date to 19 per cent. Hays said that while demand for temporary workers had been “broadly stable”, demand for permanent placements, particularly in the banking and property sectors, had continued to fall across all its markets. Shares in the company closed up 3/4p at 74p. Hays, for which Britain and Australia are its largest markets, said that it expected trading to “remain tough for some time”. The unemployment rate in Australia yesterday hit 5.7 per cent — its highest level since 1991. The company insisted, however, that it was well placed to weather the storms, with a good mix of business in both temporary and permanent placements and a solid balance sheet. It said that it also continued to invest in trying to win market share, by enhancing its major corporate account service and developing its technology systems. Paul Venables, finance director of Hays, predicted that up to 20 per cent of Britain's 10,000 registered recruitment businesses could disappear in the next few years, giving larger operators such as Hays a stronger hand. Mr Venables said that he was comfortable with analyst estimates of £150 million to £175 million for full-year operating profits. In the three months to March 31, Hays suffered a 27 per cent fall in net fees compared with the same quarter last year, equating to a 31 per cent slump on a like-for-like basis. The like-for-like fall was steepest in Hays's permanent-staff division, down 46 per cent, while temporary placings were down by a more modest 14 per cent as staff were re-engaged in the new year at about 90 per cent of the pre-Christmas level. The worst-hit region was the UK and the Irish Republic, in which like-for-like fees fell 37 per cent. Asia Pacific was down 36 per cent. Continental Europe and the rest of the world declined by 9 per cent. ，英语毕业论文，英语毕业论文 |
