Job vacancies see biggest decrease in six years, as new data shows a 10% drop since last year

●      The UK has lost 1 in 10 vacancies year on year, with a total of 113,805 jobs dissipating in the last 12 months.
●      Manufacturing sees 23% year on year decrease.
●      Yorkshire and Humber is the only region to see job market growth, while the rest of the UK sees notable downturns in the past 12 months.
●      Public sector vacancies also drop, with social-work jobs losing 15,447 roles year on year (-34%) and teaching jobs losing 10,445 jobs (-12%) as Government cuts take hold.

Advertised job vacancies have fallen 10% in the last 12 months, losing a total of 113,805 jobs in the past 12 months according to the latest UK Job Market Report from job search engine Adzuna.

The loss of vacancies marks the biggest annual downturn since Adzuna started reporting six years ago. Surprisingly, London saw 15,046 fewer jobs advertised over the last 12 months. The North East of England also suffered a significant blow with a loss of 12,993 jobs, shaving off 45% of jobs in the region year on year. This is in part caused by decline of Engineering vacancies, a prominent sector in this region, which dropped 12%.

The manufacturing industry is the biggest casualty in the job market, losing 23% of jobs year on year, after 5 months of consecutive declines. The sector has lost 6,782 jobs year on year, with 1,864 in the last month alone. Uncertainty around access to the EU market and the potential costs of moving goods to and from the UK is causing employers to reduce UK operations, leading to thousands of job cuts. The threat of a no deal Brexit could potentially impact this even further.

The high street crisis continues as the retail sector continues to lose more jobs this month. Retail vacancies have dropped 31% in the past 24 months, as the industry struggles to deal with new technologies and changing consumer behaviour. The closure of high street retailers, Topshop, Dorethy Perkins and Burton earlier in the year have prolonged the down turn, with the market now squeezed between weakening demand and rising costs it is unlikely that the industry will show signs of recovery in the near future.

Yorkshire and the Humber is the only region to survive the economic slump and show a notable increase in vacancies year on year (+9.8%), as it transitions from traditional industries to more diverse business sectors. Leeds and Sheffield drives vacancy growth in this region.

Interestingly, part time employment has increased 43% year to date, despite the downturn on overall vacancies, as more employers look to hire temporary staff to meet short term needs. This trend suggests that we are moving towards an increasingly flexible labour market with employers reluctant to invest in permanent staff as Brexit uncertainty continues. Despite the shift in vacancies, employers are still keen to attract the best talent with salaries up 3% year on year (up £2,260 year on year).

The demand for public sector roles have fallen significantly in the past 12 months. Our report shows social-worker vacancies plummeting 34% (a loss of 15,447 roles) and teaching jobs falling 12% (a loss 10,455 jobs) as Government cuts take hold. However, a desire to maintain and attract the best staff in these sectors is evident with Government announcing a 2 billion pay rise to the public sectors

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, comments: 

“A pause in Brexit negotiations appears to be prolonging unrest in the job market and leaving employers cautious to invest in long term hiring plans. More and more employers are moving away from permanent staff and are instead taking on temporary staff to fill short term requirements. This reluctance to hire staff will undoubtedly have a knock-on effect on other aspects of the job market, such as investments in infrastructure and automation and could continue to slow down growth.“Integral industries to the UK economy, such as manufacturing and retail are feeling the effects of Brexit and are not yet showing signs of recovery. This decline is likely to be compounded by the typically quiet summer months. We hope to see the job market bounce back but it might be a slow process.”

Table 1: Annual change in jobseeker vacancies

Table 2: Annual change in jobseeker vacancies