Job advert recovery shows clear industry and regional divide

Latest data has shown that December 2020 saw around 1.77 million active job adverts in the UK, which was an increase of 10.5% on the previous year.

According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), there are a number of factors to take into consideration for these figures, such as pent-up demand for staff and an increase in the amount of time employers are leaving job adverts open for.

However, the REC’s report states that these figures also show a clear divide in terms of which sectors and regions have been impacted most strongly by the pandemic.

For example, due to Covid-19 cases rising and more health restrictions being put in place to stop the virus, it is no surprise to see significantly higher numbers of job postings for health professionals like nurses (+62.7%), care workers (+25.8%) and radiographers (+71.3%) in December 2020 compared to the previous year.

Skilled trades such as bricklayers (+92.9%), glaziers (+71.6%) and carpenters (+41.5%) also saw higher numbers of job adverts as construction sites remained open and home improvements could still take place.

Obviously, the hospitality and leisure industries continued to be hit the hardest by the health restrictions. Among the occupations with the biggest drops in job posting numbers compared to the previous year were bar staff (-69.9%), travel agents (-58.9%), chefs (-58.2%), beauticians (-52.9%) and sports and leisure assistants (-49.8%).

Wales (+49.5%) and north-west England (+46.6%) registered notably higher numbers of job postings in December 2020 than December 2019, with almost 1.5 times as many job adverts as a year earlier.

Interestingly, London was the only major region that saw a year-on-year drop in job adverts (-4.7%), as businesses there continued to struggle due to social distancing measures, work-from-home policies and the closures of non-essential shops.

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, commented, “There is a great deal of underlying strength in the jobs market, despite the tough economic circumstances of the current lockdown. The potential for a strong bounce-back after the vaccination programme is rolled out is there. Jobs are still being created all over the country. But it is no surprise that some sectors and regions like health, social care and construction are in the lead, while others, particularly hospitality and particularly London, are in desperate need of support.

To find out more about contracting please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com