Here’s some encouraging news for people seeking employment in Britain’s cities: there are now more vacancies than applicants in some of the nation’s population centres.
41 out of 56 UK cities are currently struggling to fill vacancies as competition for jobs falls to 0.58 jobseekers per advertised vacancy the lowest number since the Great Recession ripped through worldwide business in 2007.
Strong vacancy growth continues, with 1,178,129 positions available in September, up 2.4 percent from August and 30.0 percent year-on-year, but many vacancies left unfulfilled due to lack of skilled labour.
Adzuna’s UK Job Market Report discovered that employers and recruiters in Cambridge are having the most problems filling vacancies, with just 0.09 applicants per vacancy, shortly followed by Guildford (0.10 jobseekers per vacancy) and Oxford (0.13 jobseekers per vacancy).
At the opposite end of the scale Sunderland was the worst city for jobseekers during September, with 4.01 jobseekers per vacancy, followed by Hull, which saw an average of 3.05 jobseekers per vacancy.
“Many cities don’t have enough home-grown talent to fill new positions, meaning companies are increasingly relying on workers from elsewhere in the UK as well as from overseas,” Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna.
At £33,121, the average advertised salary has also fallen, dropping 4.5 per cent from £34,695 a year ago.
Advertised salaries for London jobs sank even more, dropping to £39,815, which is 6.9 per cent lower than a year ago.
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.