Sweden — Staffing demand up, but varies by occupation, CEO writes

Demand for staffing services generally increased last year, but there are large variations in growth between different occupations, Poolia AB (POOLB: SS) Managing Director and CEO Morten Werner wrote in a commentary included in the company’s newly released annual report.

“While segments such as industry/manufacturing...

Ireland — Labour costs are a concern for National Competitiveness Council

Increasing labour costs are one concern cited in a report released by Ireland’s National Competitiveness Council.

“Labour costs in Ireland have been growing marginally more quickly than in the euro area since 2014 and the wider EU-28 since the latter part of 2015”, according to the council.

The report...

UK — Temporary employee numbers down 2.5% year-on-year

The number of temporary employees in the UK fell 2.5% in the three months ended February 2016 when compared to the same period last year, according to seasonally adjusted data released Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics.

Temporary employees represented 6.2% of all employees in the three months...

Spain — Ride-sharing firm gets $120 million in funding

Technology website TechCrunch reports Madrid-based ride-sharing firm Cabify received USD 120 million in a series C funding round lead by Japanese ecommerce firm Rakuten. The deal values Cabify at USD 320 million, according to TechCrunch.

Cabify operates in the human cloud space with other ride-sharing...

UK — Firm warns against reclassifying temps as ‘unsupervised’

CXC Global reports it knows of one recruitment firm that advised clients to reclassify temporary workers as “unsupervised,” but such a move can put the end-client and the recruitment agency’s directors in jeopardy.

CXC Global cited measures introduced earlier this month by Chancellor George Osborne...

UK — Many managers lack leadership capabilities, Penna says

Many UK managers lack the aptitude and confidence to step into leadership roles, according to an announcement by Penna plc, a management and recruitment firm.

The firm said only 14% of managers surveyed describe themselves as “visionary” and just 9% said they are “authoritative”, which the firm...

Global — OECD employment rate near pre-crisis level

The OECD area employment rate — the share of working-age people in employment — rose in the fourth quarter to a level just shy of its pre-crisis peak in the first quarter of 2008, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s quarterly employment situation report released...

Switzerland — Page Personnel survey takes snapshot of temp staffing

A new report from Page Personnel took a snapshot of temporary staffing in Switzerland with a survey of companies that use temporary workers as well as the workers themselves.

Here is some of what Page Personnel found:

• The average age of temporary workers is 42 years old, 61% have more than 10 years...

Netherlands — Temp workers hours, turnover up in third period

Hours worked by temporary workers rose by 11% and turnover grew by 13% in period three (weeks nine through 12) compared to the same period last year, according to the market developments report by the Dutch Federation of Private Employment Agencies (ABU). This period had an equal amount of working days...

France — Private employment falls in March

Private sector employment in France fell by 8,300 jobs in March when compared to February, according to the France National Employment Report produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. This was ADP’s first report of a decline in private sector jobs since November....