Inflexible Job Opportunities and Fragmented Information revealed as biggest barriers between people

The lack of flexible job opportunities and the scattered nature of information about job openings are two of the biggest barriers between people and work, according to research released by campaign group Keep Britain Working today (Monday 8 February)

The findings come at a time when UK ‘economically inactive’ figures reach record highs, at over eight million, and the number of part-time workers is at a record high of 7.71 million. This in a context where it is estimated that an additional 2.48 million people – 7.8% of the working population - are unemployed.

Over 1,000 people were asked to pick the obstacle they thought most prevented people from connecting to jobs and the top three responses from the 700 unemployed respondents were:

 - 44% state a lack of flexible job opportunities

 - 42% say information about job opportunities is too scattered and in too many different places

 - 14% said that transitions on and off benefits were too complex, making it too difficult to move back into work after a break– whether caused by unemployment, sickness or family commitments.

James Reed, Founder of the Keep Britai Working campaign, and Chairman of recruitment group Reed, says:

"It is a huge concern that unnecessary obstacles are making the recruitment market in-efficient. Clearly more must be done to encourage flexibility, for both employers and jobseekers. The power of the Internet is invaluable in bringing together information about new jobs. Simplifying benefits to ease the transition back into work after a break will undoubtedly help jobseekers too."

“We are calling on everyone to share their ideas at KeepBritainWorking.com on what else must be done – which we in turn pledge to pass on to all three of Britain’s main political parties so that the next government, whoever wins the election, can take them on board."

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