The number of jobs in London being posted on job site Indeed this year has plummeted by 50%, compared with 42% across the UK as a whole.
The company looked at the number of vacancies advertised on its platform for the year to 6 November 2020 and found London saw the largest drop among major cities in western Europe.
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Madrid suffered the second largest fall in job adverts (46%), followed by 40% in Paris, 35% in Rome and 17% in Berlin.
The decline in vacancies in each city was much larger than the decline in each respective country. Indeed recorded that job postings were down by 39% in Spain, 24% in France, 24% in Italy and 17% in Berlin.
Indeed said the drop in vacancies is especially pronounced in face-to-face service jobs, such as food preparation and service; beauty and wellness; and hospitality and tourism. Jobs in these sectors often feature high levels of face-to-face contact with customers and are highly sensitive to coronavirus-related restrictions.
Its blog post said: “The explosive growth of working from home in the capital cities appears to be playing a role in the hit to customer-facing jobs. In all five, the share of job postings that mention working from home is substantially higher than in the rest of the country. The main reason is the high share of postings in sectors like finance, tech and research in which work can often be done from home.
“This shift is bad news for jobs at city-centre retailers, restaurants and entertainment establishments. The drop in city centre footfall associated with remote work translates into sharp falls in business. In addition, a coronavirus-related collapse of tourism and business travel is undoubtedly also depressing hiring in those sectors.”
Earlier this month the TUC revealed that there were fewer 16 to 24-year-olds in employment than during the 2008 crash, with some 59,000 losing their jobs in July to September 2020. This age group makes up a significant proportion of the hospitality and retail workforces.
Meanwhile, separate analysis of official figures by Rest Less found the number of over-50s out of work increased by 33%, with 371,000 people in this age group unemployed in July to September 2020.
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