“Recruiters urge both businesses and governments to heed the call in today’s speech to work in partnership on people planning as new job adverts hit a14-month high and the number of existing job adverts sits at more than 1.3 million. The UK economy stands to lose up to £39 billion in GDP every year from 2024 unless business and governments act on labour shortages. Business needs to take a long-term view with their hiring, and we need a proper skills and labour market strategy from Westminster.

“We support moves to improve people’s working lives. That also means more flexibility if we are to encourage people with caring responsibilities, the over 50s or long-term unemployed, back into work. Let’s not unintentionally prevent people from working in a way that suits both them and their employers.

“Recruiters are supportive of more flexible skills training for apprenticeships and the short courses mentioned in today’s speech. But this must include a focus on entry-level training and apprenticeships, where employers are reporting significant staff shortages.”