Hiring slowed in November
After a year where vacancies have hit record levels, the number of job adverts took a downward turn in November – hitting the lowest level seen since May.
National vacancies dropped nine per cent, ending an 10-month hiring spree where vacancies steadily increased by six per cent each month at an average of 32,377 new professional vacancies per month.
The findings, from professional services recruiter Robert Walters, found there was a contraction of eight per cent in the West Midlands.
Chris Poole, managing director of Robert Walters, said: “It is not surprising to hear that hiring slowed somewhat in November – where following the reopening of many sectors post lockdown, businesses made immediate staffing assessments based on people leaving or not returning, which in-turn led to a short-term spike in hiring that was always going to be temporary.
“The emergence of a new variant has yet again left Members of Parliament sitting on either side of the lockdown argument – creating a lingering air of uncertainty across businesses, particularly within the retail, leisure and hospitality space.
“Nonetheless, the UK is better placed to handle Covid over winter than other European countries – in part due to an early lift of lockdown measures, backed by the vaccine and booster programme roll-out. This means that while in other countries we may well see a complete recruitment freeze take place in certain areas, this is unlikely to happen in the UK.”
Nationally, professional vacancies are 110 per cent up overall on 2020 and just as importantly 55 per cent up when compared with 2019 pre-pandemic numbers.
There was regional growth across the Midlands and The North. The Midlands share of professional vacancies is up from 9.9 per cent to 10.4 per cent.
