More than 3.5million active job adverts as Christmas peak approaches

The number of active job adverts in the UK continued to grow rapidly throughout November as businesses rush to hire staff ahead of Christmas.

According to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)’s latest Jobs Recovery Tracker, there were 210,000 new adverts posted in the week of November 22-28.

This follows three of the top five weeks for new job postings since the tracker began, with 266,000 new postings between November 15-21 and 274,000 in the first week of the month.

As a result, the total number of active job postings has continued to surge. Last week there were over 3.5million job adverts live in the UK, with that number having increased by over 500,000 (16 per cent) since the end of October.

Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, said: “The growth in job adverts shows no signs of slowing as we reach the Christmas peak.

“We’ll have to wait and see how this week’s news on the Omicron variant affects the market, with hospitality the sector most likely to bear the brunt of any slowdown in consumer confidence. The downturn in hosptality management roles in this data is more likely to reflect the completion of hiring for Christmas, however.

“More broadly, this is very much a candidate’s market now. Firms need to think about how they will attract staff facing greater competition than ever before. Professional recruiters are a vital tool for businesses at times like these, helping them to find the best staff by reviewing their workforce plans and reaching out to new pools of candidates. Government can help by working with business organisations on skills, immigration and unemployment policies that boost labour supply, helping businesses grow and the UK to prosper.”

There was notable growth in active job adverts across a broad range of sectors in late November. The most significant rise was for prison officers

(+21.0 per cent), continuing the trend seen throughout November. Other roles with a notable increase in adverts were scaffolders (+6.9 per cent), dentists (+4.5 per cent), vets (+4.5 per cent) and veterinary nurses (+3.8 per cent).

The education and training sector also saw a number of roles with strong increases in adverts, including school secretaries (+4.9 per cent), careers advisers (+3.5 per cent), and special needs teachers (+3.4 per cent).

On the other hand, the largest decline in job adverts was for publicans and managers of licensed premises (20.8 per cent).

There were notable decreases for a number of management roles in hospitality, including restaurant and catering managers (-7.7 per cent), hotel and accommodation managers (-7.1 per cent), and catering and bar managers (-6.8 per cent).

The top hiring hotspot for the UK was the Isle of Wight (+7.0 per cent), but five of the top ten areas with the highest growth in job ads were in Scotland.

East Dunbartonshire led the way (+5.5 per cent), followed by East Lothian and Midlothian (+4.1 per cent) and Edinburgh (+3.4 per cent).

John Gray, vice president, UK operations at Emsi Burning Glass, said: “The number of new job postings, whilst slightly lower than we’ve seen in recent weeks, remains significantly higher than before the start of the COVID crisis and above most of 2021. “Whilst this can be seen as an indication of business confidence, we know from other data sources as well as anecdotally that many employers are really struggling to hire. “Solving this situation will require employers to be more proactive in their attempts to attract and retain employees – including looking at things like salaries being offered, hiring bonuses, on-the-job training, career progression, and other benefits of working for the company – and also in recognising the need to communicate these things clearly and effectively to prospective employees in job advertisements.”