Job market forecast for 2025?

[Omega]

Fascinated by this thread as I have absolutely no idea what anyone's talking about.

I guess then we should not break the magic

 

[Omega]

I suspect the contractors’ market was tough, but now the government put tough conditions on employers. This may level things out, though at worse conditions for the business. Guess this is how you do things by not fully killing contractors’ market

 

[foxy]

We can only deal with the hand we are dealt, play the cards we have well and ignore the ones we don't have. I am having to change too.

Nailed it. I was a money chaser, the rigs in Singapore, the mines in Indonesia, and the Cooper Basin gas fields.
I took less money contracting through an agency as my wife didn't want me working away. When the agency started paying me when they didn't have any work for me that is when I decided it was better to have people working for you.
Change, move the goalposts, and look for other opportunities, there is plenty of scope out there.

 

[MashBag]

It is true that contracts always pickup first.

But that is the first sign of a rising market. Imo we are not there yet.

 

[MashBag]

. I was a money chaser

I was too, but nothing lasts forever. I set up another game, and swapped out.

 

[Omega]

Nailed it. I was a money chaser, the rigs in Singapore, the mines in Indonesia, and the Cooper Basin gas fields.
I took less money contracting through an agency as my wife didn't want me working away. When the agency started paying me when they didn't have any work for me that is when I decided it was better to have people working for you.
Change, move the goalposts, and look for other opportunities, there is plenty of scope out there.

And what other opportunities are there? I see some, but it seems to me contracting pays more even with breaks. I want a second income, but it can either distract too much from the main work, or the pay is not great

 

[foxy]

And what other opportunities are there? I see some, but it seems to me contracting pays more even with breaks. I want a second income, but it can either distract too much from the main work, or the pay is not great

It is for you to recognise. It doesn’t have to be in the field of work you are in.

 

[Justin Dean]

Asked Google AI and this is what I got:
The UK economy's 2025 forecast varies depending on the source, with some predicting growth of up to 2% and others predicting growth of around 1.5%:

• Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR): The OBR's October 2024 Economic and fiscal outlook forecasts 2.0% GDP growth in 2025.
  
  
• Treasury: The Treasury's November 2024 survey of independent forecasts predicts 1.3% GDP growth in 2025.
  
  
• EY ITEM Club: The EY ITEM Club Autumn Forecast predicts 1.5% GDP growth in 2025.
  
  
• CBI: The CBI's economic forecast anticipates 1.9% GDP growth in 2025.
  
  

I do not believe, this no pay rises, no recruitment, dead as dodo economy growth on its way. Then pension contributions will be targeted, even less growth opportunity. Wait see what happens, hope I am wrong but it looks obvious

 

[Graz]

I'm a embedded software coder in the Aerospace industry, we're trying to recruit for a few roles at the moment which is never that easy, I think mainly because of where we're located which is not so close to Bristol/Swindon/Cambridge/London/etc. The roles are quite specialised as well.

What I have noticed is we've had a few more contractors than usual apply. My boss is wary of this and convinced if the market improves any we've employed would be off like a shot.

 

[Omega]

I'm a embedded software coder in the Aerospace industry, we're trying to recruit for a few roles at the moment which is never that easy, I think mainly because of where we're located which is not so close to Bristol/Swindon/Cambridge/London/etc. The roles are quite specialised as well.

What I have noticed is we've had a few more contractors than usual apply. My boss is wary of this and convinced if the market improves any we've employed would be off like a shot.

Coding is a weird fish, IMO - I am certified as MS Dynamics Developer, but easily did not write code for at least 13 years. While there are roles for Developers, I would think I will lose to any because of obsolete experience… The same goes for Functional Consultant roles - there lots of FA roles and I hold circa 15 certifications with 3 platforms (can get for more, like SAp and Workday, but they are expensive or cumbersome to maintain, therefore, I did not certify), but I worked as FA/Business Analyst about 10 years ago, so, experience is obsolete again
Our market lacks opportunities to develop the required skills - employers want experienced people, but very few provide training

 

[old dog new tricks]

The Government has mandated civil service to stop using external consultants (contractors) going forward a robust bisiness case is needed for each application and only approved at SCS level

 

[Stu]

The Government has mandated civil service to stop using external consultants (contractors) going forward a robust bisiness case is needed for each application and only approved at SCS level

There are plenty of ways around this.
One of them is to use a company that in turn body shop.

 

[Omega]

Got a call from an accountancy firm - they say that you can now work inside IR35, but use your own limited company. They say it is something between Umbrella company and Outside IR35 in terms of real cash that stays in your pocket
It looks like the previous government made it tough to hire contractors pushing business for permanent staff hire. The new government now balances the labour market by making contracts Inside IR35 more profitable and raising taxes for employers thus making contractors more attractive
This should ensure the government collects higher taxes on both permanent staff and contractors and won't kill contracting. We will see - it will work as long as the taxable revenue does not reduce
And hope it will revive contracting

 

[Stu]

Got a call from an accountancy firm - they say that you can now work inside IR35, but use your own limited company. They say it is something between Umbrella company and Outside IR35 in terms of real cash that stays in your pocket
It looks like the previous government made it tough to hire contractors pushing business for permanent staff hire. The new government now balances the labour market by making contracts Inside IR35 more profitable and raising taxes for employers thus making contractors more attractive
This should ensure the government collects higher taxes on both permanent staff and contractors and won't kill contracting. We will see - it will work as long as the taxable revenue does not reduce
And hope it will revive contracting

I fully understand why IR35 was brought in. I worked with a contractor who was with us for 9 (NINE) years.
Basically, we couldn't afford to let him go, but he refused to join the books.

The reason being is that he lived abroad - would get a cheap flight into the UK on a Monday morning, and leave on Thursday evening, working a comrpessed week. The absolute state of the tax fiddling he was doing was crazy.

There were permies with a contractors hat on, simply because they wanted to avoid paying tax.

Saying all of that, I avoid paying higher rate tax by paying loads into my pension, taking a company car and other salary sacrifice benefits.

 

[Omega]

I fully understand why IR35 was brought in. I worked with a contractor who was with us for 9 (NINE) years.
Basically, we couldn't afford to let him go, but he refused to join the books.

The reason being is that he lived abroad - would get a cheap flight into the UK on a Monday morning, and leave on Thursday evening, working a comrpessed week. The absolute state of the tax fiddling he was doing was crazy.

There were permies with a contractors hat on, simply because they wanted to avoid paying tax.

Saying all of that, I avoid paying higher rate tax by paying loads into my pension, taking a company car and other salary sacrifice benefits.

As Deloitte said in their famous ad: "We all must pay tax, but we don't have to leave the taxman a tip..."

 

[Clint]

Out of curiosity...if you can't get work in your field will you do anything else?

 

[Stu]

As Deloitte said in their famous ad: "We all must pay tax, but we don't have to leave the taxman a tip..."

A bit like IHT. It's the only tax that anyone with any sense chooses to pay.

 

[Omega]

Out of curiosity...if you can't get work in your field will you do anything else?

Definitely - I switched professions at least 4 times already. Yes, it is painful, but I can do it. I know I can find a permanent job if I need to, but my pay will be about 2-3 times less than what I used to get