6,000 Christmas jobs still unfilled as demand soars

A new study from job search engine Adzuna.co.uk has revealed over 6,000 Christmas jobs are still available in the UK, an impressive 50% increase on last year, as employers struggle to cope with the festive rush. The big British Retailers are hiring almost 5% extra staff this winter, amounting to thousands of temporary roles flooding the market, and many smaller employers continue to seek additional support for the festive season.

Key Christmas Jobs Data:

The largest proportion of this year’s vacancies fall in the Hospitality, Logistics and Sales sectors. As of the 3rd December 2013 there are still 875 Catering, 707 Warehouse, & 640 Sales vacancies waiting to be filled around the country.

Topping the Christmas recruitment charts once again this year are the Royal Mail and Sainsbury’s, with well over 35,000 positions (most of which have now been filled) being created between them, a 15% rise on last year’s recruitment drive. Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and online retailer Amazon are also among the top recruiters ahead of the predicted festive shopping sprees.

London and the South continue to be vacancy hot-spots, playing host to almost 40% of the available roles in the UK. The lowest number of Christmas jobs are in the North East, with just 2.7% of the vacancies based in the area.

This Christmas period bring with it some extremely lucrative opportunities as well. On-call Doctors, Event Managers and Christmas Day Drivers can demand an eye-watering £60 per hour this December. At the other end of the spectrum, Turkey Pluckers, Bar Staff and Gift Wrappers are among the worst paid, scraping by on minimum wage.

Those looking for something different this Christmas can choose from myriad of weird and wonderful vacancies this December. Jobs as “Reindeer Display Handlers”, “Christmas Present Demonstrators” and “Festive Storytellers” are all on offer this year and are paying in the region of £8 per hour.

Andrew Hunter, Co-Founder of Adzuna, commented, “With widespread predictions of a record-breaking Christmas for the retail industry and beyond, it is not surprising to see the big recruiters hiring ever greater numbers of temporary employees over this month. Jobseekers looking for extra cash this Christmas should head to the South of England where the vast majority of the opportunities lie.”

Top Christmas Jobs by Sector:

Overall Top 10 Christmas Employers*:

*Note that these numbers are the total number additional staff these companies have been hiring for this Christmas. This is not the total number of live vacancies at these companies.

Best Paying Xmas Jobs:

Worst Paying Xmas Jobs:

Weird and Wonderful Christmas 2013 Jobs:

Top Regions for Christmas Jobs: