According to data from the office of national statistics, from December 2016 and May 2017, the number of people in work increased significantly. With 112, 000 people no longer unemployed or incapable of seeking work or categorically not seeking work and the rate of unemployment decreasing at a steady rate, we cast our minds to the question- which sectors are responsible for the growth in the jobs market?
According to an article published by the Telegraph from May 2017- the industry that has experienced the most growth over the past year has been real estate. Unsurprisingly, engineering and construction is in second. This is unsurprising because the link between construction and housing should be clear. Two industries that benefit one another and are intrinsically linked; one could almost say that they are totally reliant on one another to prosper at times.
A similar article published by the Guardian in July 2017 and quite frankly, merely hours before I am writing this states that the UK film, television and music industry has grown by an enormous 72.4%. Interestingly when compared directly to the European Union the UK is light-years ahead. The EU’s film, television and music sector has grown by 8.2%, for the record. These growths are recorded from the start of 2014.
One would automatically (and The Guardian does) point to the UK’s decision to leave the European Union as a major contributing factor to this astounding level of growth. Since the pound has dropped in value it is safe to assume that foreign investors in British film have been lured by the prospect of cheapening their own expenses to film and thus can probably lower their budget thus increasing their chance of a return and profit on the films and television they decide to produce.
Online portal Capita predicted, back in January 2017 that certain industries would be subject to the most growth during the coming year. They listed Entertainment and Media as one of those industries citing a greater level of understanding concerning internet advertising.
The prominence of social media and its own instrumental link to film and television is obvious in today’s society. It is, honestly, the proximity of the industry of entertainment and media to modern methods of advertisement that is seeing a higher gross profit on series on Netflix and Now TV, for example.
Whilst it does not ubiquitously account for the steady decrease in unemployment, it does imply, through basic logic, that more jobs will be available in the industries of real estate, construction and engineering and most surprisingly of all; entertainment and media. While more jobs being made available does not necessarily mean people are going to be qualified to do them, or honestly even want to do them, however an increase in jobs is theoretically an increase in opportunity, if we want to glean something akin to a positive from these recent news reports.
