UK Jobs – Mixed News for Jobseekers Considering Public Sector Job Losses (guest post)

I’m going to start a regular feature of monthly content provided by TotalJobs.com.  Here is the first article from them:

UK Jobs – Mixed News for Jobseekers Considering Public Sector Job Losses

 

Totaljobs.com has reported an increase in job vacancies posted, however in some sectors competition is fierce with up to 26 applications per job.

  

Totaljobs.com have released their first Totaljobs Barometer report since the General Election and it makes for some interesting reading.  Since the Coalition came to power there has been a 6.5% increase in the number of jobs posted between the 1^st and 2^nd Quarter of 2010.

 

This indicates that employers have a more positive outlook, and the private sector is set for growth, which is very encouraging for the economy. However, with each job vacancy receiving an average of over 11 applications, jobseekers are facing some tough times ahead as unemployment is set to increase through the year due to public sector cuts.

 

The BCC recently announced that the rate of unemployment has actually fallen and although unemployment will rise from 2.51 million to a peak of 2.65 million (8.4% of the workforce) in the first quarter of 2011, many areas in the private sector still look buoyant.

 

Jobseekers who can transfer their skills to a new sector or who can easily relocate will have a better chance of obtaining the job they want. Sectors that have seen a significant increase in job vacancies include catering and hospitality (+11.8%) and customer services (+15.0%). In contrast, sectors to have suffered between quarters include social services (-10.7%) and health/nursing (-22.5%). However the Coalition Government has indicated that they will be focusing on developing Britain’s manufacturing industry and it is hoped that this will result in opportunities opening up in sciences and engineering.

 

Regional jobs figures from the Totaljobs Barometer also show some interesting trends in job supply and demand. The West Midlands, for example, has seen an 8.5% increase in regional jobs posted, but the number of applications remains at 9 per job. This is also reflected in competition for jobs in London which remains at an all time high of 32 applications per job.

 

The North East and North West jobs market also show they have more to offer then just public sector jobs. Finally, bouncing back after a 16% fall in posted jobs in Q4 2009, the job market in Scotland is showing the first signs of improvement, with 7 applications per job, down from 8 applications per job in Q1 2010.

 

About Totaljobs.com

http://www.totaljobs.com is one of the UK's leading jobs & recruitment websites, attracting over 2.8 million jobseekers every month on the hunt for one of 90,000 live vacancies the site carries at any one time. All of this activity generates over 1.5 million applications a month, cementing totaljobs.com’s strong reputation among recruiters and jobseekers alike. Thousands of recruiters from multinationals to smaller regionally based businesses, recruitment consultants and advertising agencies recruit through totaljobs.com.  More data from the Barometer is available at http://www.totaljobsbarometer.co.uk/