Hiring in the capital takes a hit in lead up to Boris Johnson’s ‘exit strategy’ announcement

- New jobs dip 9% across the UK in the week ending 10th May
- Vacancies in London hardest hit, dropping 23% in the lead up to the Prime Minister’s lockdown exit strategy announcement
- ICT holding up London’s employment, accounting for 18% of all vacancies in the capital
- Demand for freelance staff up 43% as businesses tap into temporary talent pools

Vacancies in London dropped 23% during the week ending 10th May as speculation surrounding Boris Johnson’s easing of lockdown measures grew, according to the latest real-time statistics from the world’s largest network of job boards, Broadbean Technology. Across the UK, hiring activity dropped 9% during this period as companies remain cautious during the on-going uncertainty.

ICT jobs ‘holding up’ London’s employment levels

While recruitment noted a significant dip in London, some pockets of hiring remained, with vacancies in ICT bolstering the capitals employment numbers. Broadbean Technology’s data revealed that, week-on-week, the industry saw a 48% increase in job postings, with specialist roles in this area equating to 18% of all new vacancies in London. In comparison, healthcare jobs made up just 9% of new roles added in the capital during this period.

This uptick in ICT demand is indicative of on-going remote working measures, as more organisations in London and across the UK continue to make the move to the Cloud. As speculation mounted as to the possibility of return to work measures being allowed for some, the demand for the infrastructure to support social distancing in office environments has also created added pressure on ICT resources.

Demand for freelance staff spikes

Broadbean Technology’s data further indicated a spike in freelance recruitment, with a 43% increase in demand for these professionals week-on-week. This is perhaps unsurprising as businesses not only seek the resources to fill temporary demand without the associated overheads of permanent contracts, but also increasingly require short-term ICT support to develop better remote working facilities for staff.

Alex Fourlis, Managing Director at Broadbean Technology, commented on the latest statistics:

“We saw a lot of speculation in the lead up to the Prime Minister’s announcement of how the UK will come out of lockdown measures which no doubt added to the drop in vacancies across London and the rest of the country. While the nation takes a ‘wait and see’ approach with some returning to work in the hopes of bolstering the economy, businesses that perhaps hadn’t completely moved to the Cloud during the first stage of lockdown are now certainly taking the steps they need to, adding to the growing demand for ICT professionals. And we expect this will only continue to increase over the coming days and weeks as more organisations adapt places of work to meet social distancing rules. As we get through the first few days of ‘return to work’ for some, we predict there will be an uptick in hiring across some crucial industries over the next week and will be closely monitoring vacancy levels.”

ENDS

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Vickie Collinge
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