Britain on course for full employment

BRITAIN is heading for full employment for the first time in a generation, a key survey will show this week.

With the vibrant service sector creating jobs, and even battered manufacturing industry starting to take on workers, the dole queue is expected to dwindle almost to vanishing point.

But the Christmas jobs bonanza that will be forecast in the thirdquarter economic review from the British Chambers of Commerce could raise fears that wage inflation will be reignited as private industry and the public sector compete for staff.

The BCC found that a net 11% of all the service businesses questioned had increased staffing levels during the three months to September. A net 18% expect to hire more people in the last quarter of this year.

That compares with seven% on balance who had hired more workers during the secondquarter of this year and a net 15% who had expected to do so during the third quarter.

Manufacturing industry showed a dramatic turnround. In the second-quarter, a net six% said they had shed staff and a net one% expected to do so during the next three months. But while in the third-quarter a net five% said they had reduced workforces, a net three% said they expected to hire people during the last three months of this year.

September's jobless figures, due on Wednesday, are expected to confirm the buoyant labour market conditions.

Unemployment topped one million in November 1975 and did not drop below that figure until March 2001. It stands at 930,800.