UK Labour Market Insights | August 2022

Trends across the UK

After last month saw the steepest decline in unique jobs so far this year July has seen an overall increase (3%) in unique job postings in England (17.4%), Scotland (19.5%) and Wales (10.8%).
The REC reported there were 85 million job adverts in the UK in the last week of July alone.
The highest increase of unique job postings compared to the previous month is in the warehousing sector (29.3%) and the lowest in the education and training sector (12%).
Between April and June, average wages rose 7%. However, it was outpaced by inflation, and the “real value” pay fell by 3% (Office of National Statistics).

London

Overall, Greater London has seen an increase in unique job postings of 9.1%. However, the South and East London boroughs have seen twice the increase (18%).
The highest growth in unique job postings is in the warehousing sector (17%), which is consistent with the national trends.
The biggest number of unique job postings in London was in the business, finance and legal sector (110,477) and the lowest in the protective services sector (2,346).

Scotland: Tayside and Lanarkshire

two gray people and one orange person standing

Scotland has seen a larger increase in postings (5%) compared to England and Wales, with Lanarkshire seeing a rise of 21.2% and Tayside 20.3%.
The construction and labouring sector has seen the sharpest increase in unique job postings in Lanarkshire and Tayside (3%) and the lowest in the education and training sector (6.13%).
In June, the highest number of unique job postings in Lanarkshire and Tayside were in the health and social care sector (4,589).

North West England: Cumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside

July saw the greatest monthly increase in vacancies of the year so far (19.3%).
The cleaning and facilities management sector saw the highest increase in July (41%), and the lowest increase was in the IT and education and training sector (6%).
The health and social care sector posted the highest number of unique jobs in this region (41,606).

West Midlands

There was an increase in unique job postings of 03% in this region, which is above the national average.
The protective services sector saw the most significant increase in unique job postings (7%). Some areas within West Midlands have even seen a quadruple increase in unique job postings in the sector, such as Wyre Forest 166.7%, Walsall 120% and Malvern Hills 100%.
The lowest increase in unique job postings has been seen in the sales and marketing sector (3%).

Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire

Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and South and West Yorkshire have seen an overall increase of unique job postings of 30% (222,203 unique job postings) compared to last month.
The steepest increase in unique job postings was seen in the cleaning and facilities sector (49.9%), and the lowest was seen in the education and training sector (4%).

Wales

This month, unique job postings in Wales have increased by 8% compared to last month. The highest increase in unique job postings was in Newport (18.9%) and the lowest in Torfaen (0.5%).
The sharpest increase in unique job postings have been seen in the warehousing sector (21%), and catering and hospitality saw a slight increase (2%). This is unsurprising as the tourism season is nearing the end.

Surrey, Sussex & Hampshire

Southern regions have collectively had their highest number of active unique job postings in one month (64,854 unique job postings) of the year, with an overall month-on-month increase of 9%.
The highest increase in unique job postings in July was in the warehousing sector (5%), the lowest increase was seen in the tourism, leisure and arts sector (10.1%).

We are currently providing free recruitment services to more than 500 UK businesses including Zizzi, Wincanton and Tesco. If you think your businesses could benefit, get in touch today.