This is the twelfth of a series of bulletins produced by ISE to update members on key data and policy on Covid-19. This bulletin just covers the period 04/06/2020-10/06/2020.

You can access all of the Covid-19 bulletins on the ISE website.

The week in Covid-19

Data taken from Wikipedia and from the government’s Number of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and risk in the UK webpage.

Ending lockdown

• The government believe that Covid-19 is in retreat in the UK.
• Pub gardens could reopen from the end of June.

Politics and policy

• Advice for the Chancellor from Tony Wilson on how to tackle unemployment.

Education

• Schools have struggled to reopen to the government’s timetable. Many in the north-west have postponed opening. Research from the Nuffield Foundation highlights some of the problems.
• The government are hoping to announce plans to help school pupils catch up. But the details of these plans still haven’t been announced.
• The government has promised an apprenticeship for every person, but details are still scarce as to how this can be done. Labour’s Toby Perkins voices some concerns about what is proposed.
• Concerns about the number of new students going to university in September continue. Universities are bracing themselves for a substantial drop in numbers. Some universities are preparing to lower their standard offer to attract more students, but polling suggests that the drop may not be as bad as anticipated. The anticipated drop in home students is made more serious by the even bigger anticipated drop in international students.
• Career guidance continues to be important in the Covid-19 crisis. The Career Development Policy Group release an emergency plan for career guidance post-Covid-19. While the Gatsby Charitable Foundation have released guidance on virtual work experience and employer encounters.

Economy

• The Office for National Statistics release new data on the economic impacts of Covid-19.

Labour market

• The state of the job market. Webinar featuring Tony Wilson from the Institute of Employment Studies.
• The US labour market appears to be bouncing back quicker than anticipated leading to hopes that the UK’s labour market might do the same.

The student labour market

• The class of 2020 is graduating into the worse labour market since the Great Depression.
• How can we support the corona Class of 2020? (ISE blog)
• What the post-COVID-19 job market might look like for graduates. (Luminate blog)
• Graduate labour market update from Charlie Ball.

Recruiting during Covid-19

• What do jobseekers want from employers during lockdown? (Luminate blog).
• How is Covid-19 changing student attraction? (ISE blog)
• Why brands must not forget young talent during Covid-19. From Marketing Week.

Employers insights

The following insights are based on ISE’s interactions with employers during the period covered by this briefing.

• Inductions. Some employers have already started their inductions for this year. Other are moving start dates to early in 2021. Many are moving inductions online but are still unsure about exactly how this is going to work.
• 2021 recruitment campaigns. Some firms are considering delaying or cancelling their 2021 recruitment campaign. Many indicate that recruitment budgets are likely to be down.
• Sharing candidates. Organisations are gearing up for an increase in the number of candidates per vacancy next year. There was some interest in passing unsuccessful candidates onto other organisations within the sector as part of a way to manage rejections.
• Concern about online recruitment. Some firms which need to recruit candidates for jobs that are strongly focused on inter-personal skills or skills where context matters expressed some concerns about the shift to online recruitment. Will the online recruitment approaches reliably deliver the candidates that they need? Others are worried about tech poverty and other diversity issues associated with online recruitment.
• Salaries. Many firms report that they have frozen new hires salaries and may not give existing staff a pay rise.