Demand for workers in December 2023 was significantly lower than a year earlier, with the number of active job postings down by almost a third (32%) compared with December 2022.
The latest labour market tracker from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and Lightcast showed there were 1.7 million active vacancies last month, a 24.3% decrease on the November 2023 figure and significantly down from the same month in 2022 (2.5 million) and 2021 (2.8 million).
December is traditionally a quieter month for recruitment as Christmas approaches and employers delay hiring until the New Year, but the figures suggest that the boom in recruitment that occurred after the Covid-19 pandemic is now over.
REC chief executive Neil Carberry said: “The labour market weakened across 2023, especially for permanent roles. But it did so from a very high base. Comparing with previous Decembers, we can see a significant fall from the levels of activity in previous post-pandemic festive periods.
December 2023 job postings
“It is important to remember that activity levels overall remain relatively high by comparison to pre-pandemic norms, and unemployment is low. There remains opportunity out there for jobseekers, especially in growing sectors.”
Carberry said anecdotal and survey data from REC members suggested that recruiters were hopeful for a springtime uptick in hiring.
“As the economy grows, businesses will be looking to government to use the Spring Budget to unlock labour supply with action from welfare-to-work programmes to skills reform and a more sensible debate on immigration,” he said.
There were some sectors, however, that saw a notable boom in job advertisements. The number of ads placed for prison officers increased by 34.7%, while ads for authors, writers and translators grew by 10.3% and air transport operatives by 4%.
Manual labourers were among the professions experiencing the least demand as Christmas approached, with adverts for painters and decorators down by 41.1% and packers, bottlers, canners and fillers down by 40.5%. There was also a notable drop-off in demand for road transport drivers (down 40.2%).
Of the top 10 counties and local authorities with growth in active job postings, five were in London, bucking recent trends.
Of the bottom 10 areas for growth in job adverts, five were in Scotland and four were in Northern Ireland.
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