England – Britain’s job market has sprung up owing to an acute lack of job candidates and support from Beam, a crowd-funding charity that helps homeless people into work reports Reuters.

A shortage of people to fill jobs after the pandemic bringing changes to labour markets is worrying central banks who fear wage demands will fuel inflation already at multi-decade highs.

In Britain, the problems are exacerbated by a drop in EU workers after the country left the European Union. Vacancies are the highest on record. As a result, organizations that work with people employers were long wary of, including homeless people as well as other typically marginalised groups such as ex-offenders, say more opportunities are opening up.

Beam estimates interest from employers in its services has tripled since the start of the pandemic. It has ramped up operations to help nearly 30 people a month into jobs so far this year, compared with about 3 a month in 2019, before the pandemic.

Surging Vacancies, shrinking workforce

Britain's ratio of 4.1 vacancies to 100 employee jobs is a record.

During the pandemic many older workers took early retirement and young people opted to stay in education. In late 2021, the share of 16-64 year-olds not in work and not looking for it stood at 21.2%, up from 20.2% in early 2020, government data shows, equivalent to around half a million missing workers.

As well as the high demand for labour, organizations such as Beam are key to breaking the cycle that keeps homeless people out of work.

Alex Stephany, Beam's founder, said companies could meet the challenge of worker shortages by doing "the right thing for society" and hiring ethically and diversely.

Interventions Alliance, an organisation that helps former offenders find jobs, said it was now much easier to place its clients with a wider range of companies, including transport and hospitality businesses that were previously reluctant.

For Fox Group, a haulage and construction firm in Blackpool, northwest England, there is potential in nearby Kirkham Prison.

A shift to online shopping in the pandemic made drivers some of the most sought-after workers, compounding the loss of about 4% of Fox's drivers and construction staff after Brexit.

Fox currently employs two former inmates of the prison and seven others who are allowed out to work during the day. In the next few weeks, Fox will open an academy to train and potentially hire 45 inmates as machinery drivers on day release and once they are fully released.
-Reuters