UK jobs down 43% owing to the coronavirus, report finds

Vacancy levels across the UK saw a sharp decline in 2020 with jobs falling 43% year-on-year as the country battled through the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest research from Broadbean Technology.

According to the company's report, titled "A nation in flux: a look at recruitment numbers in a Covid hit economy," shows that applicant numbers are up from the year prior, with the research hinting at a 55% increase in the average number of job applications per vacancy (APV) for 2020 compared with 2019.

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Some sectors were hit harder than others and research, admin and secretarial jobs saw a significant spike in applicants year-on-year.

The data suggests the government's furlough scheme which was in place for much of last year, has provided a level of security causing a 15% drop in total applications when compared with 2019.

This hints many employers were relying on the job retention scheme throughout the height of the pandemic to keep total vacancies lower than anticipated.

Broadbean's APV data is consistent with the rise in unemployment seen throughout 2020.

The travel and tourism sector reportedly saw a 98% drop in vacancies in Q2 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019.

By contrast, the IT sector fared significantly better in Q2 2020 when compared to the same period last year, likely owing to the increase for remote working seen during the crisis as larger percentages of the population continue to work from home.

While demand for IT professionals peaked and troughed – jobs fell by 66% in Q2 when compared with Q1 2020 – this steadily increased throughout the pandemic. 

As a result, vacancy numbers were down by just over a third (38%) year-on-year for the final quarter of 2020.

Read more: Covid-19 has had severe effects on apprenticeships, report finds

Alex Fourlis, the Managing Director at Broadbean Technology said: “There’s no doubt that Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the employment market across the UK which is reflected in our research. However, there are some encouraging signs that positive steps were starting to be made at the end of 2020.

"And while the Prime Minister has outlined his roadmap to exit restrictions, we certainly still have a long way to go before ‘normality’ returns – in whatever form that takes. However, what we can see from our analysis is that the recruitment sector is, in many instances, in a better place than it was at the beginning of the pandemic. 

"But while we are cautiously optimistic that the worst is behind us, there are additional challenges that will no doubt impact hiring throughout 2021 – namely Brexit and the fast-approaching private sector roll out of IR35.”

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