As the final COVID restrictions are being lifted, the number of new job adverts have skyrocketed across the country.
New research from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) in their Jobs Recovery Tracker found that in the week 2-8 of August, there were a total of 1.65 million active job adverts in the UK, which is the second highest weekly figure since December 2020.
After the lifting of the remaining COVID restrictions, the past three weeks have seen near record numbers of new job adverts being posted online.
The last week of July saw the highest weekly figure since mid-May, reaching a staggering 213,000 new postings.
This was followed by 204,000 last week, the fourth highest weekly figure since the beginning of the pandemic.
Kate Shoesmith, Deputy CEO of the REC, commented:
Employers are desperate to find good staff to help them recover and grow in the coming months. Recruiters are working flat out to help find the best people but there are shortages of workers in almost every sector across the country.
This is starting to translate into higher pay and better benefits for some workers in particular sectors, which is great for people looking for a job. But employers also need more support from government, including an effective, long-term plan on skills.
Some of the positions that saw the highest growth in job postings were photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators, all of which saw a growth of nearly 20 per cent (19.3 per cent).
Following this, adverts for insurance underwriters grew by 15.5 per cent.
As the harvest season continues, there was an increased demand for farm workers, rising by 9.2 per cent.
Surprisingly, playworkers and other teaching and educational professionals saw a decline in active job adverts, down 20 per cent and 15 per cent, as the summer holidays continue, and the sector experiences a “cooling off period”.
Some areas have experienced a large amount of growth in new job adverts, with the highest in Blackpool at 5.2 per cent.
Yet, some areas did not see an uplift in job postings, with many areas in Scotland seeing the biggest decline in postings, such as the Shetland Islands seeing a drop of 9.1 per cent.
Commenting on finding workers for these positions, Kate Shoesmith added:
We mustn’t overlook the thousands of workers who need a chance to skill up and improve their earnings but this alone won’t meet demand. We also need an immigration system that has the flexibility to meet employers’ needs.
*In order to obtain this data, the Jobs Recovery Tracker is produced by the REC in partnership with Emsi, using their Job Postings Analytics data which is harvested from tens of thousands of job boards. Data was harvested between 26 July and 8 August 2021.
Megan McElroy is a second year English Literature student at the University of Warwick. As Editorial Intern for HRreview, her interests include employment law and public policy. In relation to her degree, her favourite areas of study include Small Press Publishing and political poetry.
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