Here's What's Going On In The United Kingdom Right Now With The Shortages

The United Kingdom is grappling with shortages that are affecting people purchasing fuel, everyday necessities and, now, the country is reportedly running out of white-collar professionals as well.

What Happened: Fuel shortages were more pronounced in London and southeast England over the weekend where 22% of forecourts had no fuel available and 60% had both gas and diesel available, reported Reuters. citing U.K.’s Sky News.

Some City of London firms are turning away work due to a lack of staff, reported Financial Times.

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Data compiled by KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation showed that appointments to permanent roles rose o a record high in August but a shortage of candidates drove salary hikes, FT reported.

Staff shortages are not restricted to white-collar workers and span across sectors such as haulage, farming, and hospitality, as per The Guardian.

U.K businesses are reportedly struggling from both shortages of staff to pack and transport food.

“There are gaps on supermarket shelves and real pressures on the hospital supply chain,” said James Withers, CEO of Scottish Food & Drink, Bloomberg reported.

Why It Matters: Businesses are blaming the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit — Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union in January 2020 — for the crisis, as noted by the Guardian.

“Brexit, global supply chain issues and the long tail of Covid-19 has created a perfect storm for UK businesses,” said Ed Dwan, a partner at the accountancy and advisory firm BDO, as per the Guardian.

The ongoing shortages have left Britain dealing with what Gavekal Research described as a “perfect inflationary storm,” which could plunge the country into a recession in 2022, reported Bloomberg.

On its part, the U.K. government said last month that it plans to issue short-term visas at least to deal with the shortage of truckers and poultry workers, although businesses say it would not make up for the deficit, noted Bloomberg.

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