Peterborough employers look to dismiss recession fears with focus on filling jobs vacancies

Concerns about a looming recession appear to have been shrugged off by many Peterborough employers, according to new figures.

Companies in all sectors across the city and the surrounding area look to be locked in a struggle to find enough people to ensure growing businesses keep on operating.

This is despite national warnings that another three months of negative growth by the end of the year will mean the UK is in recession after the economy shrank by 0.2 per cent during July to the end of September. Two back-to-back quarters of contraction is classed as a recession.

But officials at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) say that in Peterborough they are not seeing any slow down among city companies that all seem to have lots of jobs to fill.

The upbeat assessment is underlined by the start of recruitment through the DWP by beverage can maker Crown Bevcan which is recruiting for up to 280 staff to work at its new £150 million manufacturing centre nearing completion at Delta Park in Shrewsbury Avenue, Woodston.

White goods maker Whirlpool in Peterborough is also looking for extra staff along with builders merchants Selco, Selladoor Venues (Peterborough) and Poundland, which is opening one of its largest stores in Peterborough.

Chris Knights, from East Anglia Jobcentre Plus, said: "Lots of employers are coming to us for help to fill their vacancies.

“If there is a recession looming then we are not seeing any sign of a slowdown.

“While we are in the festive season, we’d expect to see a slight increase in vacancies but the employment scene has been this robust all year.

“I am surprised and also very pleased.”

His comments comes as new figures from the DWP shows that the number of people claiming Universal Credit, which includes unemployment benefits, in Peterborough has fallen by 20 per cent since last year.

Last month, there were 6,505 people in Peterborough claiming Universal Credit - down 1,630 from 8,135 people in October 2021.

The number of 16 to 24 year olds claiming Universal Credit dropped by 275 people from 1,390 in October 2021 to 1,115 last month - a fall of 20 per cent.

Mr Knights said: “Our coaches are busy helping employers fill seasonal and permanent vacancies in hospitality, retail, logistics and caring.”

He said: “We have a number of Job fairs over the next few weeks offering a variety of jobs.

He added: “We are getting 140 employers wanting to join our jobs fairs and all have a good number of vacancies on offer.”