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With 2022 quickly heading towards 2023, we witness robust growth in job advertising across all business sectors. This trend has been consistent week on week through the first half of 2022.
Figures from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s (REC) Labour Market Tracker, show that 224k new jobs were listed in the last week of February. This is the highest number of new job postings since the first week in December. These new jobs join the 1.6 million collective of live job adverts.
How Strong Is Employee Demand In Your Sector?
While all UK business sectors are feverishly trying to hire candidates, these ten roles all had job postings increase between 15.5-23.6%:
- Fitness Instructor
- Van driver / Roundsperson
- Cabinet Maker / Furniture Maker
- Security Operatives
- Veterinarian
- Nanny / Childminder
- Barber / Hairdresser
- Fashion Designer / Dressmaker / Tailor
- Industrial Cleaner
- Mobile Machinery Operator
How Competitive Is Your Region?
Just as candidates are in high demand in particular job roles, there is significant variances across regions. Ten regions where job postings have increased between 13.6-29.6% include:
- Orkney Islands
- Newly
- Mid & East Antrim
- Armagh City & Banbridge
- Castlereagh & Lisburn
- Derry City & Strabane
- Northumberland
- Fermanagh & Omagh
- Mid Ulster
- Ares and North Down
Economic Recovery And COVID
Chief Executive of REC, Neil Carberry, said “Firms are hiring to meet demand as the economy recovers, and that is great news for people looking to move on in their careers. With increases in every type of job and almost every local area, that opportunity is widespread too. Recruiters across the UK are ready to help people find new roles. Employers’ confidence levels have been boosted by COVID restrictions lifted, with activity returning to city centres and industries like entertainment and hospitality much closer to normal.”
He continued to say, “But the high level of job adverts also reflects the difficulty firms are having in hiring. The UK economy is facing some severe capacity constraints as it recovers, which is contributing to higher inflation. To manage this, workforce planning needs to be front and centre for firms. This will also help to boost productivity, a long-time UK weakness. For governments across the UK, it means working together with industry to ensure skills systems are able to fulfil our needs in the coming years, including reforming the apprenticeship levy. Now is also the wrong time to be increasing National Insurance, our biggest business tax – the government should be encouraging business investment and supporting household incomes rather than piling more costs on taxpayers at a time when inflation is already high.”
ONS Labour Force Survey
The latest Labour Market Statistics from ONS, collated through its Labour Force Survey, highlight the following trends:
- Job vacancies – Up 105,000
- Payrolled employees – Up 275,000
- Unemployment rate – Down 0.2pms
- Redundancy rate (per 1,000 employees) – Down 1
- Hours worked (quarterly) – Up 4.7 million
- Real earnings – Up 0.1%
Response To ONS Labour Market Statistics
In response to Labour Market Statistics from ONS, Neil said, “Businesses across the country are doing what they can on pay, both for existing staff and to help them hire in a jobs market experiencing a severe labour shortage. But rising inflation both makes that effort hard and reduces the gains workers feel from pay rises. In real terms, average pay has fallen compared to last year. Now is not the right time to be increasing taxes on work for both companies and workers. Ahead of the spring statement, we’re urging the Chancellor to delay the upcoming rise in National Insurance – the UK’s biggest business tax, as well as an additional income tax for workers.”
He continued to say, “A key way to reduce the pressure on our economy and keep inflation down will be to focus on ensuring employment rates and hours worked recover to pre-pandemic levels. Inactivity is still rising, so firms and the government need to work together to address this. Recruiters have a key role to play here, from helping the government with activation schemes to supporting employers with new forms of a job offer to tempt people back into work.”
Insightful Recruitment Articles Published In Q1
- Advertising Jobs In The Local Paper
- Presenting A Job Offer
- Creating A Talent Pool
- Centralising Recruitment With ATS
- Posting On Job Board And Leveraging Fixed Cost Recruitment
- Introducing An Employee Referral Scheme
- Social Media Hiring Strategies For SMEs
Our Top Recruitment Articles Published In 2022
