Home » Knowledge Hub » Talent Acquisition » ‘Cautious optimism’ as UK job vacancies at highest level for a year
18 May 2021 Talent Acquisition
From February to April there were 657,000 vacancies, up about 48,400 on the previous quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.8% since March, down from 4.9% in February.
The ONS said there were “early signs of recovery” in the jobs market, but the level remains almost 128,000 below its pre-pandemic level in the January-to-March quarter of 2020.
The official figures confirm several reports in recent weeks by recruitment companies that they are seeing a rise in job advertisements, leading to concern among some employers that they could face staff shortages.
Business leaders have said there is cause for ‘cautious optimism’ but also warned that business recovery had a long way to go.
Matthew Percival, CBI Director of People and Skills, said: “Having the highest number of vacancies since the pandemic first hit shows the value of the roadmap for reopening the economy. However, businesses are starting to report vacancies they’re struggling to fill so government support for skills and retraining is essential.
“Businesses increasingly need to know what rules will be in place after 21 June to make their next reopening decisions. They’re hoping to avoid any further bumps in the road and will be closely watching the trajectory of new variants and the conclusion of reviews into social distancing and Covid-status certificates.”
Joanne Frew, head of employment at legal business, DWF comments on the ONS employment data published today. She said: “The latest ONS figures show an estimated UK unemployment rate of 4.8% between January and March 2021, 0.3% lower than the previous quarter.
“The UK employment rate was estimated at 75.2%, 1.4% lower than before the pandemic but 0.2% higher than the previous quarter.
“The steadying of the figures comes at a time when the UK was subject to severe restrictions, however the Government’s roadmap to ease lockdown announced in February 2021 will undoubtedly have given the labour market some confidence.
“As expected the total hours worked decreased on the quarter with the reintroduction of many coronavirus restrictions.
“Previous ONS figures have showed an increased take up of full furlough as the UK entered the third lockdown in January 2021.
“There are some further positive signs as the redundancy rate decreased on the quarter to 5.5 people per thousand employees.
“The expectation is that this figure will continue to improve as the economy re-opens, however the true test will be in September when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme comes to an end.
“As further restrictions were relaxed on Monday, we predict with cautious optimism that the labour market will continue to improve in the short term.
“If the UK can stay on track with the four point plan the hope is that the economy will recover sufficiently to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme coming to an end, resulting in medium term stability of the labour market.”
Maike Currie, investment director at Fidelity International commented: “The figures published today have shown the green shoots of economic recovery as the number of job vacancies increase and the employment rate rises – albeit by 0.2% compared to the previous quarter.
“This small increase highlights the somewhat fragile state of the economy, and how reliant it is on the easing of restrictions continuing on schedule.
“The damage done over the last year is clear, and it’s likely ongoing support will still be needed for the hardest hit businesses and individuals – particularly young workers. For example, as we get closer to the summer and the ending of the furlough scheme in September, some workers may want the opportunity to retrain in order to plug any skills gaps.
“We will all be watching closely over the next month to see whether social restrictions will be rolled back as planned. Ultimately, we are at the very start of the road to recovery and it remains to be seen how quickly we can progress along.”
Tania Bowers, Legal Counsel and Head of Public Policy at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) said: “We’re seeing increasingly promising signs in the employment market at the moment and while we still have a long way to go – with the hardest hit industries still feeling the impact of the pandemic and reliance on the furlough scheme still in place – we’re on track for a recovery.
“These latest ONS figures support the recent findings from APSCo’s Recruitment Trends Snapshot report which revealed a 90% year on year spike in permanent vacancies between April 2020 and April 2021. Contract vacancies also reports an 83% increase during the same time frame.
“While this optimism is certainly welcome news for the UK’s recovery, in order to continue on this positive trajectory, working practices and employment law need to be fit for the modern world.
“How businesses are run and how recruitment is managed is different in a remote working environment and it’s critical that the relevant authorities are providing the necessary support that organisations currently need.
“The recent delay to a return to in-person Right to Work checks is one move that APSCo has welcomed – though we are urging the Home Office to prioritise the adoption of technology to switch to digital checks.
“However, more still needs to be done. We were disappointed not to see the Employment Bill in the Queen’s Speech, for example, meaning an unwelcome delay to the regulation of umbrella companies by BEIS. It’s regrettable that the labour market and particularly a review of employment status is not being prioritised in the Covid recovery.”
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