Show me the money
June 1st 2008 A boon to equipment manufacturers, the weak pound is causing contractors a headache.A Cleaning Matters poll in May (via our e-newsletter), showed 56 per cent are noticing a labour shortage.The most recent figures are slightly dated, but last year a survey of contract cleaning companies by Asset Skills suggested 37 per cent of employees were migrant workers.And they came to the UK to work because sterling was strong.
Now, as the pound continues its descent against the Euro, the economies of countries such as Poland and Slovakia are growing.As a result,many Eastern Europeans are returning home, or to other EU countries that opened their markets to accession states in 2004.With more member states having to open their markets over the next few years, and an everstrengthening Euro, the labour pool will move with the money.
There’s no solution for free market economics, but the industry associations and unions have been saying the same thing for years: if you want to keep your workforce,make conditions, opportunity and pay a priority.
The alternative is to become more mechanically efficient, using advanced equipment to do jobs faster and better.Or probably a combination of both.
On the flipside, the combination of increasing exports and a decreasing manual labour market is an opportunity for manufacturers.Genuinely innovative labour-saving products that save contractors time,people and, as a result,money, will surely hit pay dirt. More articles from Cleaning Matters: | 
