Seamus Leheny, Logistics UK Policy Manager-NI

Seamus Leheny

Policy Manager - Northern Ireland. Logistics UK

A FUTURE IN LOGISTICS

Time and again, the logistics sector has shown itself to be flexible and resilient, continuing to deliver for the nation despite skills shortages and other economic factors. The number of those employed in logistics occupations in Northern Ireland in 2021 was 34,200, approximately 2.1% of all UK logistics jobs. While these figures remain widely unchanged since 2020, recruitment remained a significant challenge with high numbers of job vacancies.

Logistics is an exciting, dynamic industry with numerous opportunities for career growth. Data shows that it creates more jobs than any other sector in regions of the UK that have been identified by the government as ‘levelling up’ priorities. However, research shows that 90% of the UK has never considered a career in the logistics sector – despite it being one of the nation’s biggest employment areas. Generation Logistics – a new industry-led campaign – is set to change this, by raising awareness of the varied employment opportunities available to all ages, locations and backgrounds. Generation Logistics launched earlier this month and is already changing perceptions about the sector, highlighting roles from technicians, mechanics, warehouse staff and HGV drivers through to backroom support workers and developers. Supported by the Department for Transport (DfT), the campaign also aims to change the stigma surrounding the logistics sector (which can be seen as old fashioned or dirty), raise awareness of its importance to the UK economy and allow the public a deeper understanding of how goods reach them. While the greatest proportion (41.8%) of logistics jobs are grouped as low to middleskilled, followed by low-skilled (26.1%), the pandemic highlighted the importance of all roles across industry. A 2022 report – ‘The Impact of Logistics Sites in the UK’ – commissioned by Amazon and produced by Frontier Economics, found that two-thirds (63%) of logistics managers today do not have a university degree. This further highlights the sector’s importance in powering social mobility; not only does the logistics industry create jobs, but it creates rewarding careers with opportunities to advance.

INFLATIONARY PRESSURES

However, as an industry we must be mindful that we are competing with other sectors for workers, and, combined with inflationary pressures on wages, attracting and retaining staff is very challenging for many NI businesses. The most recent Labour Market Report for Northern Ireland, published by Northern Ireland statistics and research agency (NISRA) in August 2022, shows another record high for pay rolled employees, while the level of payroll earnings continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels. The trend of low numbers of redundancies across the economy continues, where the latest 12 months totals for confirmed and proposed redundancies were the lowest since 2000. Measures of total employment (e.g. employment rate and hours worked), unemployment and economic inactivity have not yet returned to their pre-pandemic position. The latest HMRC payroll data showed the highest level of pay rolled employees on record in July was 3.5% above levels recorded in March 2020 pre-COVID and 2.6% higher than July 2021. The Labour Force NISRA Survey shows a statistically significant decrease in the unemployment rate over the year. When compared to pre-pandemic levels, the total number of hours worked in April-June 2022 was 4.5% lower, while the employment rate was 2.7 percentage points (pps) below. The economic inactivity rate remains 2.5pps above the prepandemic position and the unemployment rate sits just 0.3pps above the pre-pandemic period. When we compare employment figures for Northern Ireland compared to Great Britain, the NI employment rate (aged 16 to 64) for April-June 2022 of 69.7%is nearly 6% below the overall UK rate (75.5%) - the lowest of the twelve UK regions. No wonder employers are having to fight to recruit every new employee. The number of people employed in NI increased in July by 0.4% in a month and 2.6% in a year to reach a record high of 779,321. The annual increase in employment in July 2022 was driven mainly by the services industry sector (+9,050 jobs) and the manufacturing sector (+2,370 jobs).

MUST WORK HARDER

These figures tell us that businesses in the logistics sector here in Northern Ireland have a smaller pool of workers to recruit from compared to other UK regions, combined with increasing wages and significant demand in staffing in other sectors, businesses must work harder to attract and retain workers. I know from speaking to many of our members of the various recruitment schemes, apprenticeships and upskilling of employees currently being undertaken to counter this challenge and it’s this innovative way of working that will help businesses grow and continue to be able to cater for their client’s needs. For potential employees out there, they have many options and their own cost of living pressures that will dictate choice. An innovative problem-solving industry, logistics needs to ensure that this dynamic ethos of work is also applied in how it recruits and retains those vital key workers.