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Majority of travel companies plan to create new jobs, survey reveals
More than half of all travel companies are planning to create new jobs this year, according to a survey published this week, but they are unlikely to employ former public sector workers.
Barclays’ annual Job Creation Survey found that 57% of travel companies were planning to recruit over the next 12 months. All of them intended to take on middle managers or skilled personnel, 55% said they would also be creating unskilled jobs and a third said they would be looking for senior managers.
Three-quarters said job creation would be fuelled by a growth in sales. Large companies said they were more likely to prioritise investment in jobs than a year ago.
Commenting on these findings, Barclays head of travel Chris Lee said: "In the face of increased regulation and rising taxes on the travel industry, it is encouraging that the sector is looking to create new jobs in the coming year.
"The increased confidence around investing in jobs in order to grow sales, rather than waiting for sales to increase before hiring people, is particularly promising, and is hopefully a sign of significant investment to come within the corporate sector in 2012."
However, 85% of travel companies questioned said government initiatives to encourage job creation had come to nothing and 53% of them said they wouldn’t consider employing ex-public sector workers, even though 59% admitted they were well-equipped to join their organisations.
"Clearly, there remains a disconnect between public sector workers and private sector employers, with an element of mistrust of the former by latter," added Lee. "This is something that needs to be challenged directly if we are to have a fluid employment market place that allows people to move between the public and private sector easily, bringing the best of both worlds to their roles."
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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