Summary

• The REC tracker showed 10 million active job postings in the week starting 3 August 2020, up from 1.04 million in the week before
• There was a rise witnessed in vacancies for blue-collar workers, including gardeners, debt collectors, construction workers, painters, childminders, and playworkers, among others
• Region-wise, the tracker ranked Redbridge & Waltham Forest at number one spot with a positive change of 23.7 per cent

Amid the disappointing reports of job losses during the coronavirus pandemic and the UK’s economic contraction in second-quarter by 20.4 per cent in comparison with the first three months of 2020, there is a slight gleam of hope for the job market. The job recovery report issued by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), a London based legal advice, business support, and training company, showed that the first week of August 2020 saw the highest number of weekly job advertisements in the UK, since the government imposed lockdown in the end-March 2020. The data that was collected from tens of thousands of job boards, between 27 July 2020 and 9 August 2020 showed that positive movements of activities in the economy have begun since the government lifted the lockdown restrictions.

After the imposition of lockdown in the UK the unemployment numbers have risen sharply with 730,000 job losses that included the young, the elderly, and the self-employed Britishers. The data from ONS stated that in July 2020, the UK recorded a total of 81,000 job cuts and brought the employed numbers to below 28.3 million. Observing that the latest economic data for the UK is a signal regarding the severity of the lockdown induced recession, REC highlighted the importance of the speed at which the country needs to recover from the crisis. In the ongoing fight against the crisis, a large number of companies would struggle for the cash in next few months. This concern is an indication that there would be more redundancies, resulting in increased unemployment numbers.

Also read: One In Three UK Firms Could Cut Jobs By Autumn: CIPD Survey

Also read: Job losses Continue Unabated at Major British Companies

Some implicit drivers for the rise in advertisements

Pointing out some of the key elements of its tracker, REC stressed that a recovery is underway. It brought the attention towards some facts that included the re-opening of construction sites and increase in demand for manpower at logistics companies has led to a rise in vacancies for construction workers and large goods vehicle (LGV) drivers.

As people are staying more inside their homes, it is expected that they would like to improve their houses and garden areas, resulting in demand for painters and decorators, bricklayers and masons, and gardeners, etc. On the same time, the rise in advertisements for childminders and playworkers can be attributed to the fact that people must be planning to rejoin their offices and workplaces in the near future and would require such help.

Solution for the present unemployment crisis

Talking about the possible solutions for the unemployment crisis, the REC stated that it is important to implement some specific measures to reduce the rate of unemployment increase that is foreseen in coming times. Considering that there is no second wave of coronavirus infections, the government should guarantee that its plans and schemes are directed towards boosting the recovery process. One such measure could be reducing the employer’s National Insurance, which would help in supporting retention and increasing the hiring activities. In addition, the government must prioritise things like the private sector job search support scheme, which was announced by the chancellor in July 2020. Besides, the importance of skills reform cannot be denied overcoming the present challenges and sustain growth in the long-term as well. The REC also brought attention to the Brexit deal, which would potentially help the British companies to trade freely with other European countries, leading to increase in demand for manpower to support the activities across various industries.

Key highlights of the REC tracker

The REC tracker presented that in the week starting 3 August 2020, there were a total of 1.10 million active job postings. This is an increase from 1.04 million seen in the previous week. It is to be noted that the figures at 1.10 million are less than 1.35 million job postings that were active in the first week of March this year. Regarding the number of new job postings, the tracker from REC showed that the week between 3 August and 9 August saw a maximum number of new job postings at a total of 126,000 advertisements since the beginning of the lockdown. The earlier peak for the new job postings was recorded in the first week of June 2020 at 112,000.

The vacancies posted should bring cheer to various categories of people seeking employment. Some of these that occupied a higher place in the tracker and suggested a rise in demand include gardeners, debt collectors, construction workers, painters and decorators, bricklayers, LGV drivers, childminders, and playworkers, among others. The rise in demand for gardeners is an indication that people are looking forward to improving their gardens that suffered due to the summer heatwaves. The noteworthy increase in advertisements for debt collectors is obvious during the coronavirus-led economic crisis when many people have fallen on hard times.

Top ten and bottom ten occupations by growth in job postings

(Data Source: REC Website)

EMSI, a labour market analytics company and a partner for REC to produce the tracker, stated that the rise in job postings across the UK signified that some industries and businesses were moving out from the torpor and planned to recruit new employees, mostly from the blue-collar occupations. Highlighting that the biggest rise in claimants for jobseekers allowance in June 2020 also comprised of the same segment of workers, EMSI pointed out that the elementary construction occupations, construction operatives, construction trades, and construction and building trades registered a rise of 140,000 claimants from March 2020 to June 2020.

The REC tracker revealed strong growth in job advertisements across the UK. In terms of regions that accounted for the weekly rise, the tracker ranked Redbridge & Waltham Forest at number one spot with a positive change of 23.7 per cent followed by four hotspots in the Northern Ireland at a positive change of 11.5 per cent. Overall, the weekly rise in job postings for Northern Ireland was recorded at 6.3 per cent. There were five counties or unitary authorities which witnessed a decline in the number of job postings compared to the previous week, with the biggest decrease recorded in Swindon at negative 11.5 per cent and North Ayrshire at negative 15.6 per cent.

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

(Data Source: REC Website)

Conclusion

The jobs recovery tracker released by the REC in partnership with EMSI by using their Job postings analytics data is an indication of the rise in demand for blue-collar jobs. Given the uncertainties of the situation in the wake of an ongoing fight against the coronavirus-led economic crisis, if this trend continues in coming times, there might be additional positive upticks for such a skilled workforce.