UK Labour Market Insights | March 2023

Trends across the UK

Following an unusual surge last month, unique job postings across the country decreased by -11.4% in February, compared to January.
All sectors saw an overall decrease in job postings, but Warehousing had, by far, the biggest decrease in job postings with a -25% decrease on the previous month.
Economic inactivity remains high, including for disabled people and those with health conditions.
According to the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), this could partially be addressed through improved access to employment support and partnership working. You can read about how our services are supporting the labour market.

Unique job postings in London declined by –11% compared to January.
Across London, the biggest decrease in job postings were in Cleaning and Facilities Management and in Warehousing. Both of these sectors saw a -14.5% decrease in unique job postings compared to the previous month.
Business, Finance and Legal related roles – which form 21% of the job postings in the capital – saw a -9% decrease compared to January.

Unique job postings in Lanarkshire and Tayside fell by –14.1% compared to the previous month.
Scotland followed the national trend, and Warehousing related roles saw a significant decrease of -32.9% compared to January.
There were two sectors in Lanarkshire and Tayside which saw an overall increase in unique job postings compared to the previous month. These were Sales and Marketing (+6.3%) and Agriculture, Environmental and Animal Care related roles (+3.6%).

Unique job postings in the North West decreased by –10.3% compared to the previous month.
Keeping in line with the national trend, Warehousing related roles saw the biggest decrease in job postings with -26.4% decrease compared to January.
In Greater Manchester, which offers 58% of Business, Finance and Legal related roles in the North West – there was a -10.9% decrease in job postings within the sector, compared to the previous month.
Some regions in the North West saw growth during February. In Cumbria, Tourism, Leisure and Arts related roles had a significant increase of +9.2% compared to January.

The West Midlands had the smallest decrease amongst regions in England during February. Unique job postings fell by – 7.8% compared to the previous month.
Among the sectors, Warehousing had the biggest decrease with -21.4% compared to January.
Birmingham – which offers a large proportion of total jobs in the West Midlands – saw an increase in Manufacturing and Production compared to the previous month (+8.1%).

Unique job postings in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire decreased by -13% in February, compared to the previous month.
Once again, we saw the Warehousing relate roles take a significant decline, with a decrease of –29% across the regions, compared to January.
In Nottingham, where job postings have declined and halved in the last year, Catering and Hospitality related roles saw the biggest decrease in job postings (-25%) compared to the previous month.
Some sectors and regions saw growth during February. For instance, in South Yorkshire, Tourism, Leisure and Arts related roles increased by +7% compared to January.

Unique job postings in Wales fell to the lowest levels in the last 19 months. Unique job postings decreased by –14.4% compared to January.
Catering & Hospitality had one of the biggest decreases in job postings across Wales. Job postings in this sector fell by –20.2% compared to the previous month.
Beating a national trend, we saw Warehouse related roles increase by +7.5% in Vale of Glamorgan, compared to January.
Other sectors across Wales also saw an increase in unique job postings compared to January in local areas. These include Business, Finance & Legal in Denbighshire (+15.7%); Construction & Labouring in Monmouthshire (+27%) and I.T. in Caerphilly (+22.4%).

Unique job postings in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, fell by -11.4% compared to the previous month.
The decrease in job postings in the region has been driven primarily by the decline in number of Health and Social Care related roles. They fell by -12.3% compared to January.
Catering and Hospitality related roles in Staines saw a significant increase of +61% compared to the previous month.
Some other significant increases in job postings across the South were: Business, Finance and Legal related roles in Aldershot (+12.4%); Retail in Haywards Heath (+9%) and Education and Training in Horsham (+6.4%) All of these are compared to January.

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