UK job vacancies collapse by 92 per cent

• By the time the lockdown was announced, firms had stopped posting new vacancies almost entirely. New postings on 25 March were just 8% of their levels in 2019.
• Vacancies fell across the wage distribution. The fall was sharpest in low-paid occupations directly affected by social distancing measures, but new vacancies for higher-paid jobs in legal and managerial professions also saw falls of over 60% relative to 2019.
• There have been some tentative signs of recovery since mid-April, but this has been entirely driven by vacancies in health and social care. Health and social care vacancies rebounded from half their 2019 levels in the first week of April to 85% of their 2019 levels in the first week of May. In all other occupations, new vacancies in the first week of April were 21% of their 2019 levels, and were still only 26% of their 2019 levels in the first week of May.
• Whilst the initial drop in job postings was evenly distributed across more and less deprived areas –the recovery in health and social care vacancies has been concentrated in more affluent areas.

Source – IFS

 

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