If you are considering moving jobs to keep up with inflation and the souring price rises then you are in good company – around a third of the UK workforce (37%) is considering moving jobs to increase their wages by the end of 2022.
“It never rains but it pours” goes the expression – misfortunes or difficult situations tend to follow each other in rapid succession or to arrive all at the same time.
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First it was COVID, then an increase in National Insurance contributions then the war in Ukraine and now there are warnings of a deep and protracted Recession that could last years! A full recovery from the COVID pandemic hasn’t yet been achieved when along came a War on our doorstep pushing the cost of Petrol and Gas up which has had a huge impact on the cost of pretty much every else.
The very noticeable effect of these prices rises is that we all have less money at the end of the month – even when treats like Takeaways, eating out, streaming subscriptions and unnecessary journeys in the car.
Interesting fact: If the price of Beer had increased along the same lines as Gas then you’d be paying £25 a pint!
The Price Index isn’t going to be dropping anytime soon (estimates range between 1 and 3 years to return to normal) so if you are one of the lucky few who earn enough to be able to absorb the price rises and still have a good life then you have made some good decisions in your past!
But what if you aren’t one of the lucky ones – what if you need more income to cover the shortfall? Moving Jobs to combat the rising cost of living is worth considering.
There are a number of options:
- Change Jobs for a better paid salary
- Part time income to cover the wages shortfall
- Speak to your employer
- Look at cost savings
Let’s examine the options in more detail:
Change Jobs to soften the impact of Price Rises
The current official unemployment rate is 3.8% although when you account for those with unregistered jobs and unemployed workers who have no intention of finding work the local employment rate can be effectively as low as 0% or lower in some areas – meaning that there are often more jobs than people looking for work.
This puts anyone looking for a new job in a very strong position with multiple opportunities available – even the opportunity to switch between job types.
The Redundancy figures are often an indicator of how difficult Employers are finding replacing employees and with the current national redundancy figure at a long time low of only 1.8% this is a strong indicator that it is a Job Seekers Market at the moment.
A Survey of UK employees shows that over a third of the workforce (37%) is considering moving jobs to increase their wages by the end of 2022 with many citing the rising cost of living as the primary driver. 37% of the workforce is a massive 700,000 workers moving jobs during 2022.
This figure rises to around 50% for essential workers (Doctors, Nurses, Social Workers and Care workers) so if you are looking to do the same then you are in good company.
Although large employers have been focussed on helping staff, they are also grappling with talent shortages, with 93% of those surveyed saying they are somewhat concerned about their current attrition rates – the rate at which employees are leaving to find better paid jobs. Good news if you are looking to switch jobs.
Second job
17% of UK workers have a second job to boost income. This figure is even higher for essential workers – who tend to have the longest working day BEFORE extra work.
A second job or even a side-hustle can be a enjoyable and flexible way to get extra income.
Speak to your employer about a pay rise or overtime
In most cases, employers would favour employee retention over finding new employees so a meeting with your Manager or Human Resources department is usually the best place to start.
Many larger companies are taking action to help employees with the cost-of-living crisis – often without any prompting with employees which is an encouraging sign that employees are being valued.
Both TSB and Aldi both recently announced bonuses and pay rises to combat the cost-of-living rise. Aldi in particular has increased the pay of their Warehouse staff twice this year as well as 26,000 store colleagues.
While direct financial support is the obvious way that employers can help their workers, some organisations are implementing other non-monetary interventions such as increased staff shopping discounts, support with home insulation, financial wellbeing programmes and employee hardship funds.
Something to consider when asking for a pay rise is the inflation rate. The current inflation rate is close to 10% so if you manage to negotiate a wage rise and it is less than 10% then you may still be worse off, especially as Heating Bills and food costs are set to rise even further in the new year.
A job closer to home for the same wage can often save a large amount of money on Travel and is worth considering.
Costs Savings
The dreaded “cost savings”! Giving a complete list of ways to cut costs is probably beyond the remit of this article but we would strongly recommend making a list of outgoings – exporting a CSV File from your Banking Portal is a great way to get a list.
Go through the list of outgoings one-by-one and you may be surprised how many Takeaways and random purchases you can cut out in the coming months.
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