AIBU to think redundancy crisis is not getting enough media coverage?

I have two friends, SLT/ CMO marketing. Both unemployed for two years plus. One resigned the other redundancy.
Ghosted after the majority of interviews even from headhunters.
When people are forced to work after 60+ this is effecting youth employment. Nearly every shop is mature workers whom have the experience.

I can't see a civil war starting in the UK anytime soon. Demonstrations, more right wing politics against immigration yes, civil war no.

As i said you end up going via 'mutual agreement'. I know it has been done from one company within 18 months letting hundreds of original staff go at a time. Why dont you think it would be possible to do this for hundreds of people?

Alright. I would hope not but I just have this feeling. Its like theres something in the air, theres so much more anger in the country.

I work in aerospace engineering and recruitment and spending has been through the roof for the past two or three years. My team is based in Europe / US and I work remotely in the UK. I chose to move from the oil and gas industry in 2024 and the place I worked for has just closed down after several rounds of redundancies.

I agree with a previous poster that the answer should be better retraining schemes.

my sector: tech, pharma, IT etc has been badly hit

i would be interested in retraining (physio, occupational therapy, teaching, etc)

but the following issues exist:

1. im a single mum of three with limited money (I can’t just pop off to uni for three years. I need to earn x amount to afford a mortgage on let’s face it a tiny three bed house in south east
2. i need to be around to look after kids. I can’t be commuting to London or miles to a placement school or uni (I’m not in my 20s, I need to do school run)
3. I can’t afford the absolute shocking drop in salary that retraining will take. What does a newly qualified teacher earn these days? Or a nurse?

I worked for a Commissioning Support Unit until 23/24. So, my organisation supported ICBs. There was 100% a lot of bloat. Absolutely shedloads of it. It was embarrassing sometimes, how clearly very, very well paid people were doing bugger all for the benefit of the NHS. It made me very angry. Now, I work for a trust in a hospital. Without exception, the people I work with, clinical or not, work hard, are dedicated and do not piss about. Myself included. 😂

This is the problem with retirement age getting later and later. Once I could have retired five year’s ago, instead I have to carry on for another 2 and a half years. That’s seven and a half years where someone younger could have had a job.

Maybe because they’re more reliable? Many young people who go into these jobs can be very flakey - not motivated, uninterested.

100%. I worked in local government in the 90s and well remember whole swathes of people being made redundant, always at the lower levels though. They didn't even know what they did - only realised their importance when they found out some crucial government stat hadn't been done because they'd unceremoniously dumped the team that did it. This was invariably followed by remaining staff having increased sickness levels due to stress because they were expected to magically absorb these roles into their day to day working lie.

Not forgetting the big pay increases handed out at Director level for their 'efficiency savings'. Same old same old.

It's happening in places like Germany too. Massive companies are firing people where they can find a way to do it and making others redundant

The post covid economy is partially causing it. Also cheaper to make things elsewhere and the minimum wage has gone up.. alongside the rise of ai.

It's harder to get rid of staff in Germany and they don't count someone as unemployed for over a year after they lose their jobs.. so if they are reporting unemployment is up now.. in line year the numbers reported will be horrendous.

And other companies are still looking for ways to get rid of staff. There is no work.

Young kids can't get a job after school and they increased the compulsory school years by one year in some German states because of youth unemployment. Training placements are also highly sought after and impossible to get.

Not just the uk. This is a comparable country

Whilst I have sympathy for the civil servants facing redundancy, it is a relief to think that this swollen mass that is consuming so much of the public budget is being slimmed down.

I can't find working in corner shops and vape shops on the skilled worker visa list - perhaps you can show me?

www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-list/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-list

I agree (same sector). I survived the most recent round. I’m expecting the next round to be 2027/28. That said, there is always a bigger round every so often. Our most recent big ones were 2002, 2009, 2024. (By ‘big’ I mean over 5000 roles globally - 2024 was 7500 roles).

I work in HE and the sector has been decimated by falling student numbers, visa restrictions and non-existent funding. Several big unis have announced restructuring or compulsory redundancies (Brunel and Goldsmiths in London, and the merger of City and St Georges). Smaller restructuring is happening constantly and courses are scrapped at a short notice. It's very stressful and morale is low.

Skilled worker visa looks at average salary costs, so in my industry the minimum is around the 55k mark for sponsorship (I forget the exact number but certainly over 50k)

Thanks for posting this.

Mystery solved, then.

I work in tech and have been laid off twice in the last 3 years, once when I was heavily pregnant. I think I'm about to be laid off again... These are all part of mass lay-offs. I'm getting interviews, but where I tick every single box and sometimes still not. I'm exhausted from the constant change from all the redundancies and restructuring. Often roles I have interviews for they tell me they laid off the previous team and are hiring one person to do it all...

I use AI a lot in my work and I have updated my CV to reflect my knowledge of AI tech, but I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned and wondering what's going to happen in the next few years. Feeling jealous of my dad and a few others I know who recently retired from the industry.

I’ve just been made redundant from an Education role.

I know so many people who have been through restructures recently. My husband has been looking an alternative roles and senior recruitment is dead in his sector. We are both resigned to trying to buckle down while we have our jobs but don’t feel that confident that it will be easy to find new ones if we lost them. We actually just had planning to do an extension but our lack of confidence in the jobs market means we absolutely won’t be going ahead. It feels too risky to extend ourselves.

I was one of a small minority refused VES. I wouldn’t need another job, but I don’t want to shout it from the rooftops. Obviously shedding younger and / or less productive colleagues in their 40s and 50s saved more money. When I was told I had been refused, my manager asked what I would live on? I had done too good a job of hiding my age, because the answer was my occupational pension.

Yes, it’s true that different types of workers are affected now. All very well when it’s ‘just’ blue collar workers in the north that are impacted, but now it’s predominantly middle class white collar workers, there’s outcry.

I’m not sure that was the case in the post 2008 recession though, I think it impacted everyone. People are now just more aware of other people looking for work due to social media (and threads like this!).

Yes, I heard about this on the radio. And how the staff are worried about how they wont go home. A female prison officer was interviewed, and said she is covered in scars from attacks from inmates.
No thanks.

Until 2010 the state pension age for women was 60, now it is 66/67 and will then rise to 68. That rise will impact those staying in work although there is not a clear alignment with retirement age, raising the pension age is definitely a nudge.While people may last a year or two on just their occupational pension, most people need their state pension too. I would rather pay those age 65 plus with 40 years NI their state pension slightly early, than pay unemployment benefits to a new graduate to sit in their bedroom fruitlessly applying for jobs and becoming depressed.

You clearly don't understand the wide variety of roles within the justice sector. Lots of us do