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First Week Of December Saw The Most Active Job Vacancies In 2020

19 Dec 2020

First Week Of December Saw The Most Active Job Vacancies In 2020

New data from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) reveals that the first week of December saw the most active job vacancies during the whole of 2020.

The REC reports that in the first week of this month there were over 1.4 million active job ads in the UK, more than in January and February, the months before the Coronavirus pandemic even hit the country.

The only region of the UK which recorded a decrease in active job adverts was North West England, which saw a drop of more than 2.5 per cent. Mid-Lancashire suffered the worst fall in vacancies, down over 9 per cent, which was perhaps inevitable given the tough COVID restrictions in place in the area.

Every other region of the UK posted an increase of active job ads, with South West England leading the way by showing a rise of over 2.5 per cent. Stellar areas of the region included Dorset which added over 4 per cent of new vacancies, along with Bournemouth, Poole and Torbay which all saw rises of 3.7 per cent.

Job descriptions rising in demand include vets and fitness instructors, whilst the number of active job ads for glazers, welders, tax experts and warehouse roles registered a decline in the first week of the last month of 2020.

Revealing the latest figures, the Chief Executive of the REC, Neil Carberry, said: “After a very difficult year, we have seen the jobs market recovering over the past few months, and I am optimistic that this will continue in 2021.”

“Employers will always want to create new jobs where they can, and as the vaccine rollout continues and health restrictions ease, we should start to see that happening more. The recovery of city economies should also accelerate. However, we should be under no illusions that jobseekers and businesses will need help from the Government to adapt to the changed economy.”

“That means working closely with recruiters - the country’s job experts - to get more people back into work, as well as incentivising job creation through tax policy and more effective skills training. In this context, avoiding the economic disturbance of a no deal will also be a vital step to supporting jobs. It’s time to get the deal done,” added Mr Carberry.

Matthew Mee, the Director of Workforce Intelligence at Emsi, the organisation which helps compile the data with the REC, also commented, saying: “It has been encouraging to see a steady increase in overall recruitment activity across most of the nation during the last couple of weeks, and this confirms the latest government estimates that national job vacancies levels have now peaked over half a million.”

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