Highly dependent on the ebb and flow of economic prosperity, the situation generally swings from being in the applicant's favour to that of the employer.
"You're into a headhunt scenario for the same skillset. It's across pretty much every sector," she explained. Many workers who were accommodated for working from their home countries for a period at the start of the pandemic decided not to return. And, as if to demonstrate the spread of the shortages, it's in the area of engineering where the biggest pay increases can be found at the moment.
It found that companies adapted their benefits offering during the pandemic with some, for example, providing takeaway vouchers for their staff so that they were still covering the cost of dining while workers were out of the office. "There is now a real opportunity for employers to achieve a better balance in the workplace through the inclusion of childcare support in their benefits offering," she said.Some of the current pay rises that make the headlines are at the upper end of the spectrum and they are well in excess of the rate of soaring inflation that almost every household is experiencing right now.
Those high end pay increases that some can negotiate could contribute further to the inflationary environment in what economists call a wage-price spiral.