Despite the latest unemployment figures showing a further rise, to 2.69m, a rate of 8.4% in the UK, the Office for National Statistics also revealed that the number of self employed workers rose by over 100,000 in the three months to November. This took the self employed workforce to a record high level, at 4.2m people.
Despite some fluctuation in contractor jobs over the last few months, there has been a growing number of people preferring the freelance or self employed option. John Philpott, advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), claimed that many workers may prefer this route due to not being able to find permanent employment. However, a leading contractor group believes that the UK’s flexible workforce is key to economic recovery.
Stuart Davis, chairman of the Freelancer and Contractor Services Association (FCSA), said that because of the economic conditions the way people work is changing and therefore “the flexible workforce will increase and become even more diverse.” He believes that this means that government need to do more to support this workforce, continuing;
“It is therefore more important than ever for the Government to create a diverse legislative framework with a ‘basket’ of supports, encouragements and protections to appropriately support the wide spectrum of workers which make up the flexible workforce. This way, we can enhance the significant contribution the flexible workforce is already making to the country’s economic recovery.”
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