Seasonal jobs market looking up, says REC
There was an improvement in new job postings across the UK last month, reflecting positive movement in seasonal hiring.
The latest Labour Market Tracker from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation recorded a total of 1,763,701 job postings during June – a 9.2% increase from May and an 11.4% increase year-on-year.
New job postings jumped 30.8% compared with May and showed a 10.8% rise year-on-year. There were a total of 893,510 new job postings.
The increase in new job postings was driven by agriculture, retail and hospitality employers, typically sectors that hire seasonal workers.
The REC said that July’s figures would show if this “bounce” would continue as school and university holidays begin.
The Isle of Anglesey showed the sharpest growth in hiring, up 72.5%, followed by Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (38.9%), and Cheshire East (31.7%).
The areas with the lowest job growth were East Dunbartonshire (down 11.1%), Na h-Eileanan Siar (down 9.7%), and Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire (down 1.3%).
Only six out of the 181 areas tracked by showed a contraction in active job postings in June, the REC said. When looking at new and active postings, no region experienced a contraction.
Lorraine Laryea, REC’s chief standards officer, said the figures reflected positive feedback from recruiters in recent weeks.
“There is a clear uptick in firms taking action on long-held hiring plans,” she said. “We do need to be careful of seasonal effects, including the two bank holidays in May and the onset of summer hiring in locations like Cornwall, but the general trend is clear. Firms are venturing back to hiring and vacancies are now above pre-Gulf crisis levels.
“With a new prime minister coming to office this week, real recovery relies on an economic plan that sustains growing confidence, not action that once again deflates it and derails companies’ plans.”
She urged the government to introduce “pragmatism to the unworkable areas of the Employment Rights Act”, such as guaranteed hours.
“Addressing the tax barrier to employment that has been created by changes to the National Insurance threshold is also vital, as that is the decision that helped set the job market recovery back in the first place,” she said.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
