The number of job advertisements in the UK has reached a record high with 2.29 million active job postings in the first full week of October.
This represents a rise of more than 600,000 since the end of August.
According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s latest jobs recovery tracker four out of the UK’s top 10 hiring hotspots were in Wales, led by Swansea (+16%).
There were only three local areas that recorded declines in active job postings last week – Thurrock (-3.8%), the Shetland Islands (-3.8%) and na h-Eileanan Siar, the local authority covering the Outer Hebrides (-0.2%).
Job advert numbers rise by over 600,000 since the end of August to new record high with the week of 4-10 October also seeing 235,000 new job postings, the second highest weekly figure since data collection began.
The REC said the growth was UK-wide, with almost every upper tier local authority and occupation in the UK seeing a rise in active job postings last week. It predicted that competition for staff would become ever fiercer as Christmas approached.
Predictably, adverts calling for sales and retail assistants (+11.9%) grew in number but 4-10 October saw growth in job adverts across almost all occupations including sports and leisure assistants (+15.3%) and cleaning and housekeeping managers and supervisors (+14.8%). The highest numbers of adverts for 4-10 October were for nurses (about 102,000), programmers and software developers (88,000) and care workers (63,000). Next came chefs and retail sales assistants (both about 45,000).
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There were 7,500 job adverts for long distance goods vehicle drivers, up 3.3%.
There was a slight decline in postings for hairdressers and barbers (-3.2%), plasterers (-1.0%) bricklayers and masons (-0.6%), and roofers, roof tilers and slaters (-0.1%).
Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, called the growth in adverts “remarkable” with “so much competition for staff, many businesses are having to offer increased salaries and benefits to attract the people they need”.
He predicted, however, that “the bounce-back phase will pass”, adding, “future opportunities will be defined by the strength of our underlying economy – notably the extent to which there are capacity constraints on growth, and what progress firms can make on productivity.”
Carberry said: “To truly level up, it’s time for government to work with businesses on skills, including at lower skills levels, capital investment and workforce planning to make sure we have a soft landing after this boom. And all of this needs to be as relevant for temporary workers – the flexible backbone of our economy – as for those staff in permanent roles.”
John Gray, vice president, UK operations at job market analyst Emsi Burning Glass, said many employers were struggling to hire, which “pose interesting questions for them as to how they attract the workforce they need, including looking at the wages they are offering and including a more compelling benefits package”.
The REC’s previous tracker reported that the UK’s labour market would remain tight for years to come.
Meanwhile, the recruiter Hays on Thursday reported that fees from the UK and Ireland were up by 45% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021. There are “clear signs of skill shortages and wage inflation, particularly at higher salary levels,” said Alistair Cox, Hays’ chief executive.
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