Businesses in Cornwall are facing more problems filling job vacancies with everything from Brexit to anxiety about returning to work being highlighted as a possible cause.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) heard at its meeting on Friday that job vacancies are increasing in hospitality, health and social care and manufacturing.

There have already been extensive reports about restaurants and bars which are facing challenges in finding staff but it is now affecting other sectors as well.

Stacey Sleeman, people and prosperity manager, gave details of some of the statistics around jobs and employment in Cornwall.

She highlighted that in May there were 3,629 job vacancies in Cornwall – that was 11.8% up on the previous month and 62.5% more compared to March 2020. And she said it was likely that figures for June and July would be higher.

The number of people claiming Universal Credit (UC) stood at 49,447 in May an increase of 98% compared to March 2020. She explained that 38% of those on UC were currently working.

And the number of people on furlough in Cornwall has continued to drop with 19,100 in May, falling 12,600 from the previous month and down from 38,000 in July 2020.

The LEP board was also provided with figures on international migration into Cornwall which show that in 2018/19 there were 1,960 coming into Cornwall but 2,513 going out creating an overall reduction of 553.

This compared to the previous year when there were 2,233 people coming into Cornwall and 1,491 going out – a net increase of 742.

Stacey said that there were a number of factors involved which were causing the labour market problems in Cornwall.

She said: “There are people with contact issues, housing issues, mental health issues, particularly in relation to the pandemic. It is not always as easy to get those people back into the labour market as we did previously.”

And she added: “The availability of migrant labour force has had a major impact on some of our sectors, especially hospitality, retail and construction. We have lost a large portion of our migrant labour force.”

Work has been done with local businesses to find out what the picture is anecdotally and the LEP board heard that there were a number of other issues including transport, housing and anxiety to return to work.

Stacey said: “There is quite a level of anxiety to return to work when they have been asked to stay in their homes over the last 18 months. There has been a spike in mental health issues in returning to the world of work.”

And she said that lack of affordable housing was also causing issues with businesses reporting that they had offered jobs to people who had then decided not to take them up after being unable to find any accommodation.

The LEP board heard that the end of a £20 a week uplift to UC in September could have a further impact on people in Cornwall.

Details of some of the comments made by businesses and employers were also provided to the LEP board.

One in the hospitality sector said: “I have been besieged by tales of extreme stress and despair in all parts of the hospitality industry. Everyone is short of staff, with many positions staying unfilled.”

Another in manufacturing said: “Many companies are currently hiring with one member looking for 108 people. There just are not enough people in Cornwall; companies are looking outside of the region as a result. Particularly a problem with higher skilled jobs.”

One in hospitality added: “There is not enough affordable accommodation, we have had dozens of staff who are not able to return to work as they no longer have accommodation.”

In health and social care one person said: “Brexit has impacted on recruitment – no longer able to recruit into care roles and the knock-on impact of other sectors not being able to recruit from Europe meaning there is increased pressure on social care recruitment.”

And another added: “Recruitment and retention within social care is currently being exacerbated by return of some staff to their pre-Covid roles or sectors. Along with tourism and hospitality boom drawing applicants and employees away from social care. A notable drop in applications is reported across the sector.”