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25th November 2022
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THE HOT STORY
Female graduates earning less than men
New figures reveal that female graduates in nearly every academic subject earn less than men five years after finishing their studies, even though they are more likely to be employed. The Longitudinal Education Outcomes data reveal that 87.7% of women were employed or in further study five years after graduating, compared with 85.6% of men from the same cohort. However, figures also revealed the large majority of men earned more than their female classmates. Female graduates had average salaries that were 13.1% - or £4,000 - lower than male average earnings in 2020. Postgraduate female earnings were lower by 16.3%, or £6,200. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: "Men are more confident in their own abilities and more gung-ho about their existing skills. Women are sometimes smarter in their job searches, however, as they make more effort to look at the ethics of potential employers and think more about factors like having a sensible work/life balance."
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
NEW DATA: What organisations are doing to support employees during sustained uncertainty and challenge

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HIRING
EY is sifting millions of resumes as recruitment surges
EY expects to sift through more than three million resumes this year as the firm moves to recruit around 220,000 people in the twelve months to July 2023, Trent Henry, the firm’s global vice chair for talent, has said – and that’s before a potential break-up of its auditing and consulting divisions takes effect, which could further boost a hiring drive that reached about 160,000 in the 2022 financial year, Bloomberg notes. EY is using automation to help its recruitment professionals and match candidates to job postings, Henry said. Bloomberg says the growth in recruitment underlines the continuing boom in demand for professional services, even as other industries are affected by lay-offs. “While there is a cooling off in the job market overall, accountancy has stood up pretty well,” observes Simon Wingate, managing director at job search website Reed UK. “If you look at traditional comparators like banking or legal, accountancy is by far and away the biggest in terms of job postings on our website.”
WORKFORCE
UK net migration breaches 500,000 mark
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate that UK net migration rose to 504,000 in the year to June - the highest figure ever recorded. The previous high was of more than 330,000 seen in 2016, the year of the Brexit vote. Madeleine Sumption, director of Oxford University's Migration Observatory research unit, points out that although EU net migration remains negative, non-EU migration has risen, but not because of the policies designed to replace EU free movement. "The humanitarian routes for Ukraine and Hong Kong and a rebound in international students have played the largest role in boosting immigration levels,” Sumption said. “These unusually high levels of net migration result from a unique set of circumstances following the war in Ukraine and the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.” Meanwhile, it is reported that Rishi Sunak’s government could bar foreign students from Britain unless they win a place at a top university. As part of plans to curb record immigration, all foreign students could also have new restrictions on bringing family members with them after the number of dependants almost tripled in a year. Sunak confirmed that "all options" were on the table.
Polish essential workers consider exit from UK
One in three Polish key workers in the UK is planning to return to Poland or are undecided about staying, according to a study by researchers from Middlesex University, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Sheffield. The researchers found that 28% of those surveyed believed they had been discriminated against in the workplace, and more than half (55%) of the respondents said their mental health had deteriorated during the pandemic, while 40.2% found themselves in a worse financial situation. Middlesex University researcher Kasia Narkowicz said: "From our study, it seems that Brexit was a catalyst. Poles working here started thinking seriously about moving back," adding that "over 50% of survey respondents said that COVID-19 impacted their decision to leave" and many mentioned Brexit in the study interviews. Krzysia Balinska, coordinator for Polish Migrants Organize for Change (POMOC), observed:  "A critical issue for the Polish people after Brexit is the lack of clarity around the EU Settlement Scheme. Even people who received the Settled Status from the Home Office are facing difficulties that did not exist before Brexit."
Exodus from workforce could force BoE to raise interest rates
The Bank of England’s chief economist Huw Pill has warned that the surge in people leaving the workforce could force the Bank to further increase interest rates. “Rising inactivity among the working age population represents an adverse supply shock, which adds to the difficult shorter-term trade-offs facing monetary policy,” he said. However, Pill said there were some signs the labour market was beginning to “turn” as the economy falls into recession, including a stabilisation of jobs vacancies from historically high levels. “That will weigh against domestic inflationary pressure and ease the threat of inflation persistence,” he said. Elsewhere, former Bank of England chief economist and now chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, Andy Haldane, writes in the FT on how the UK’s adverse health trends are contributing to the flatlining of UK productivity. To slow this damage, much greater support for preventive health measures is needed, he says.
Nurses to strike for two days before Christmas
Nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are to strike on the 15th and 20th December in what is set to be their biggest walkout in the NHS's history. Nurses will still provide emergency care, but routine services will be hit. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it had been given no choice after ministers would not reopen talks, but the government said the 19% pay rise requested was unaffordable.
WORKPLACE
Swansea staff at DVLA outraged at heating failure, union says
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has been accused of "recklessly" telling staff to work in its Swansea HQ after the central heating broke. Laura Bee, of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, said workers have no hot water in toilets and were told to wear more clothes. The DVLA said staff who feel "uncomfortable" can work from another building. Ms Bee also said temperatures dropped below 11C (52F) in the building. UK government guidelines say temperatures should not drop below 16C (61F) in office environments. More than 200 temporary heaters have been installed to keep employees warm, the department said, and the Health and Safety Executive was satisfied with what it has done. But Ms Bee, the industrial officer for transport at PCS, said the fan heaters were only 30cm (12in) high and not good enough for the 15-floor office. She said they are "the type of fan heater that you would expect to see in a home heating one room."
HYBRID WORKING
Flexible working key to reducing pay gap, civil servants claim
The Treasury's annual pay report states that home working is one of the key policies it believes will drive down a 17% gap between men and women at the finance ministry. The proposal was included alongside other goals, such as a target for “50% representation at senior levels by 2024.” The report came as separate figures showed just 75% of Treasury staff were based on site during the week of the Autumn Statement. The figure was as low as 37% at the start of this year. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Business Secretary, said there was a correlation between poor productivity and home working in Whitehall. He said: “There's been poor service from DVLA, the Passport Office, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Land Registry. All of them had high levels of working from home.”
REGULATION
Twitter’s Brussels office empty
Twitter’s Brussels team has been completely disbanded, The Guardian reports, leading the paper to raise concerns about the company’s ability to enforce new EU rules intended to rein in the power of big tech and restrict hate speech. But a European Commission spokesperson said officials have many contacts with Twitter in Dublin, where the social media company has its European headquarters.
CORPORATE
Female-led venture firm launches £30m seed fund
London-based investment firm Pact has revealed its first £30m seed fund as it looks to inject cash into early-stage start-ups across Europe. The female-led venture capital investor said it would be focussing on companies tackling issues like financial exclusion, poor personal and professional well-being, and climate destruction.
CYBERSECURITY
TalkTalk given record fine over data theft
TalkTalk has been fined a record £400,000 over a cyber-attack in October last year which led to the theft of personal data of almost 157,000 customers. Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, said: “TalkTalk’s failure to implement the most basic cybersecurity measures allowed hackers to penetrate TalkTalk’s systems with ease. Yes, hacking is wrong, but that is not an excuse for companies to abdicate their security obligations.” She added: “TalkTalk should and could have done more to safeguard its customer information. It did not and we have taken action.”
INTERNATIONAL
Telecom Italia to close offices on Fridays
Telecom Italia is from next February to close its offices across Italy on Fridays as part of a year-long deal with unions to expand home working, reduce energy costs and improve employees' work-life balance. The former phone monopoly, which is one of Italy’s biggest private employers, said it would increase the weekly days of home working that staff can take to three from two for around three-quarters of its current 42,000 domestic workforce. The plan "will enable employees to better plan their activities outside of work . . . and to achieve energy efficiency and cut carbon emissions," the company said.  The deal does not envisage any contribution for workers' home energy bills.
German Catholic Church updates its labour laws
The Catholic Church in Germany, which employees around 800,000 people, has amended its labour laws so that individuals can no longer be fired for being in a same-sex relationship or remarrying after divorce. Previously, employees of the church could lose their jobs if they were open about being in a same-sex partnership or if they remarried after a divorce. "Explicitly, as never before, diversity in church institutions is recognized as an enrichment," the German Bishops' Conference announced, adding that "all employees can, independently of their concrete duties, their origin, their religion, their age, their disability, their sex, their sexual identity and their way of life," be representatives of a church that "serves people."
 


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