Niamh Corcoran, policy adviser, North East England Chamber of Commerce said:
“Figures released today continue to show the recovery of the labour market with unemployment falling and employment rising in the North East this quarter. Nationally vacancies have returned to pre-pandemic levels and payrolled employment has increased by 197,000 suggesting there has been a surge in recruitment over recent months.
“Whilst the figures should be cause for (cautious) optimism, we are not out of the woods yet. The extension of restrictions and the unwinding of the Job Retention Scheme could pose a threat to this recovery and cause a spike in redundancies later in the year.
“In addition, there are still deep-set issues in the labour market which Government needs to focus on to sustain this recovery. The national figures show that the numbers of people in long-term unemployment has reached the highest levels in five years. Government needs to do more to prevent people falling into long term unemployment and support unemployed workers into good jobs in growing sectors or into upskilling and reskilling programmes if needed.”
Chamber member Saggezza’s business clearly illustrates the statistics. It has offices across the US and India – as well as London and Sunderland – and is recruiting for a range of roles in Birmingham, Edinburgh, London and the North East, having recently exceeded the 100 employee mark in the UK.
The company’s decision to continue increasing its footprint follows a rise in demand for its services during the pandemic, as companies the world-over were forced to suddenly shift their focus to digital transformation and coincides with the company’s bold ambition to double its headcount by 2022.
Martin Williams, managing director at Saggezza UK, said: “Today’s figures are good news for the North East and UK and we’re proud to have played a supporting role in aiding the nation’s economic recovery as we re-emerge from the Covid crisis.
“Over the past 12 months, we’ve created scores of jobs at our offices in London and Sunderland and are delighted to be in a position to continue growing our UK footprint as we prepare for life post-pandemic.
“Ever since we opened our first Saggezza UK office in London, back in 2011, we’ve been blown away by the year-on-year growth the company has charted and the overall contribution our staff have made to the global business.
“Be it delivering complex solutions for global banking giants, or working on joint projects with our teams in India and the US to improve the customer journey for high street retailers, we could never have achieved this had it not been for the dedication of our employees to always deliver for our clients, and the company’s continued commitment to the UK is the perfect testimony of that.
“Through our many digital transformation services, our staff are not only changing the way we do business, but are helping change the world, and I’d encourage anyone seeking to explore a career in tech, or existing tech professionals seeking a new challenge, to get in touch with the team and explore the opportunities on offer. It’s a really exciting time for the business.”
Image: Martin Williams, MD, Saggezza