New study shows rise in job vacancies across the UK

From Aberdeen to Portsmouth, businesses look to be freshening up their workforce this spring as new research has revealed how job vacancies have increased by 7.6 per cent over March.

The new research, conducted by CV Library, compared data from March 2018 and February 2018 and looked at fluctuations in pay, jobs and applications.

The data revealed the top cities for job growth were Aberdeen (up 18.4 per cent), Liverpool (up 14.8 per cent), Sheffield (up 14.8 per cent), Glasgow (up 12.3 per cent), Cardiff (up 11.2 per cent), Hull (11 per cent), Portsmouth (up 10.8 per cent),Bristol (up 10.5 per cent), Manchester (up 10.5 per cent) andLondon (up 9.1 per cent).

The research also found how certain industries look to be strengthening in March– with the following sectors rising in vacancies: education (17.5 per cent), catering (17.1 per cent), retail (15.7 per cent), legal (13.6 per cent) and marketing (11.3 per cent).

Commenting on the findings, Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: “It’s positive to see that businesses are continuing to drive their recruitment efforts this spring, following a strong start to the year.

“What’s more, the increase in vacancies can be seen across a number of key UK cities and industries, suggesting that business confidence is nationwide.”

And despite advertised salaries seeing a slight decrease of 0.3 per cent, application rates also rose in March, increasing by 1.4 per cent when compared with data from February 2018.

Candidate applications also saw impressive hikes in some of the nation’s major cities, including Aberdeen (14.4 per cent), Glasgow (10 per cent), Portsmouth (9.7 per cent), Leeds (6 per cent) and Sheffield (5 per cent).

Biggins concludes: “It’s clear that UK job hunters were also feeling optimistic in March, with application rates also increasing.

“This is particularly good news for businesses that are facing the backlash of a widening skills gap and suggests that there is a healthy pipeline of talent to fill their roles.”