Job adverts fall to 1.3 million as firms slow down some hiring activity during lockdown

• 1.30 million active job adverts in the first week of February, returning to levels last seen in late June 2020
• 132,000 new job adverts posted last week, 44% higher than the last week of June
• The drop in active postings was recorded across every English region as well as Wales and Scotland
• Northern Ireland was the only nation to record an increase in job ads
• Rise in job adverts for dispensing opticians, bricklayers and special educational needs teachers
• Notable falls in postings for conference organisers, fitness instructors and IT professionals.

The number of active job adverts in the UK fell to 1.30 million in the first week of February, the lowest total since the last week of June 2020. This was a fall of 3.1% from the last week of January, and 14.4% lower than the week of 18-24 January.

The number of active job adverts has fallen significantly in the past few weeks  due to an increase in the number of adverts expiring and being removed from job sites. However, there were 132,000 new job adverts posted in the first week of February, significantly more than the 92,000 posted in the last week of June 2020 – indicating that firms are much more confident about bringing on new staff than they were even after the first wave of the pandemic. The scale of this churn is likely to reflect the changes that are taking place in our economy, as some firms and sectors grow, while others are still struggling.

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, said:

“With uncertainty levels high, it is unsurprising to see a note of caution amongst hirers – though new vacancies have not dropped to anywhere near the levels seen last spring. REC surveys suggest this is a pause that is likely to end as restrictions ease, with temporary hiring continuing to deliver opportunities to workers even as permanent roles are less common than before Christmas.

“The vaccine rollout means demand in the health sector remains high, and the construction industry is still hiring strongly as building sites remain open. There is a great deal of underlying confidence that when the lockdown measures are eased, firms will be able to bounce back strongly – and the UK’s vibrant recruitment industry will have a vital role to play in accelerating the recovery.”

East Lothian & Midlothian saw the biggest weekly fall in job postings (-13.6%), followed by North Hampshire (-7.9%) and the Scottish Borders (-7.0). In Scotland overall there was a drop of -3.8% in active postings, while in London the number decreased by 5.3% as the capital’s jobs market continued to struggle.

The only nation which saw a weekly increase in active job adverts was Northern Ireland (+2.4%). This rise was even stronger in Mid Ulster (+4.5%) and Antrim & Newtownabbey (+4.0%), while other local areas of the UK like South Ayrshire (+6.9%) and Powys (+4.3%) also saw increases in postings.

The occupation with the highest increase in active job adverts was dispensing opticians (+15.7%) and there was also an increase for pharmacy and other dispensing assistants (+8.8%) as the vaccine rollout continued.

A number of roles in the construction sector like bricklayers (+14.2%), town planning officers (+8.6%) and plasterers (+7.5%) saw a rise in adverts, while there was also increasing demand for special educational needs teachers, perhaps due to these children requiring more specialised attention with schools remaining shut.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest falls in active job adverts were for conference and exhibition organisers (-21.7%) and fitness instructors (-20.8%) as no large events can take place and gyms remain closed. There was also a significant decrease in adverts for IT roles such as IT engineers (-14.1%), project and programme managers (-13.4%) and analysts, architects and systems designers (-13.0%).

Matthew Mee, Director, Workforce Intelligence at Emsi said:

“Whilst the headline numbers in recent weeks might raise a few concerns over employer confidence, it is actually encouraging to see new posting volumes remaining resilient. When we dig a little deeper into these numbers we can see demand for key worker occupations remains strong – and there is relative growth in new demand across a number of technology and engineering-based professions. When we look purely at employers that are hiring (as opposed to recruiters), we can also see there seems to be some encouraging early signs of increased new postings activity across London and the South East – which is good to see given our previous commentary on the Covid ‘London Lag’.”

Ends

Notes to editors: 

1. 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 25 January and 7 February 2021. For more details, see the attached annexes which, in league table format, detail the top and bottom ten county/unitary authorities for growth in job postings and growth by occupation type.
2. ‘Active’ job postings are those which were live online during the specified time period. ‘New’ job postings are those which were added to the active stock during the specified time period.
3. The Jobs Recovery Tracker will be published every two to three weeks to complement the REC’s bank of surveys including the Report on Jobs and JobsOutlook, which provide a picture of recruitment activity and employers’ confidence and hiring intentions.

For more information and interview enquiries, contact the REC Press Office on 020 7009 2157, 020 7009 2129 or pressoffice@rec.uk.com. Outside of regular office hours, please call 07702 568 829.

Click here to view all REC press releases.

About the REC

 The REC is the voice of the recruitment industry, speaking up for great recruiters. We drive standards and empower recruitment businesses to build better futures for great candidates and themselves. We are champions of an industry which is fundamental to the strength of the UK economy.

Find out more about the Recruitment & Employment Confederation at www.rec.uk.com.

About Emsi

 Emsi’s goal is to help local, regional and national economies function more effectively through helping people make better decisions relating to the world of work. To achieve this, we employ a team of expert economists, data scientists and software programmers to build a dataset that is highly granular, extremely robust, and easy to use. Emsi was founded in Idaho in 2000 and now serves clients in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Find out more at www.economicmodelling.co.uk.

ANNEXES

Top ten and bottom ten county/unitary authorities for growth in job postings:

County/unitary authority	Unique active job postings, 1-7 February	Change in active job postings, 25-31 January to 1-7 February
South Ayrshire	965	+6.9%
Mid Ulster	1,726	+4.5%
Antrim & Newtonwabbey	2,470	+4.4%
Powys	1,637	+4.3%
Thurrock	2,359	+4.2%
Northumberland	2,796	+3.9%
Lisburn & Castlereagh	1,355	+3.9%
Wirral	1,890	+3.1%
Belfast	9,944	+3.0%
Newry, Mourne & Down	1,304	+2.0%
-
City of Edinburgh	12,926	-5.5%
Luton	3,721	-5.6%
North Ayrshire	806	-5.8%
Portsmouth	3,824	-5.9%
South Teesside	2,530	-6.0%
West Dunbartonshire	588	-6.7%
Milton Keynes	9,575	-6.7%
Scottish Borders	1,209	-7.0%
North Hampshire	8,950	-7.9%
East Lothian & Midlothian	2,052	-13.6%

 

Top ten and bottom ten occupations by growth in job postings:

Occupation	Unique active job postings, 1-7 February	Change in active job postings, 25-31 January to 1-7 February
Dispensing opticians	575	+15.7%
Bricklayers and masons	1,734	+14.2%
Advertising account managers and creative directors	4,078	+10.8%
Special needs education teaching professionals	1,823	+9.1%
Pharmacy and other dispensing assistants	1,944	+8.8%
Town planning officers	1,173	+8.6%
Agricultural and fishing trades n.e.c.	419	+8.3%
Plasterers	731	+7.5%
Construction and building trades n.e.c.	2,793	+6.2%
Gardeners and landscape gardeners	1,223	+5.4%
-
Web design and development professionals	20,111	-9.6%
Management consultants and business analysts	17,688	-10.2%
Sales supervisors	1,365	-10.4%
Beauticians and related occupations	563	-11.6%
IT user support technicians	9,015	-12.8%
IT business analysts, architects and systems designers	13,380	-13.0%
IT project and programme managers	2,053	-13.4%
IT engineers	3,066	-14.1%
Fitness instructors	3,271	-20.8%
Conference and exhibition managers and organisers	3,849	-21.7%

 

Key indicator occupations:

Occupation	Unique active job postings, 1-7 February	Change in active job postings, 25-31 January to 1-7 February
Metal working production and maintenance fitters	19,426	-1.5%
Carpenters and joiners	4,715	+0.3%
Large goods vehicle drivers	4,866	-0.8%
Sales and retail assistants	8,756	-7.0%
Waiters and waitresses	999	-4.4%
Bar staff	1,208	-4.0%
Chefs	10,606	-3.3%
Programmers and software development professionals	60,066	-9.2%
Chartered and certified accountants	3,633	-1.4%
Cleaners and domestics	14,498	+0.5%
Primary and nursery education teaching professionals	32,370	+1.7%
Care workers and home carers	42,930	-1.8%
Nurses	77,491	-1.5%
Fitness instructors	3,271	-20.8%
Hairdressers and barbers	760	-3.7%