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Coronavirus: Job postings bounce back by 79%, but applications drop

A Job Centre Plus office in London. Photo: Philip Toscano/PA
A Job Centre Plus office in London. Photo: Philip Toscano/PA

Job vacancies in the UK are starting to recover from the COVID-19 lockdown, despite the government’s job retention scheme ending at the end of the month.

But, while there is some improvement in the number of vacancies, applications are down.

Job postings grew by 79.1% in the third quarter of 2020, according to the latest quarterly job market report from CV-Library.

However, the figure remains 38.9% lower than it was during the same period last year. And, despite significant growth in vacancies, the number of roles advertised between July and September is still 4.3% lower than at the start of the year.

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“It’s great to see that so many businesses have restarted their hiring efforts over the summer.This was likely triggered by a boost to the economy thanks to the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme and the easing of national lockdown restrictions,” said CV-Library CEO and founder Lee Biggins.

The data also shows the number of job applications increased by 33.9% between the second and third quarter of the year.

READ MORE: COVID-19 – Nine in 10 millennials expect flexible working going forward

Despite this, as vacancies continued to rise during the third quarter, the number of applications per vacancy dropped by 25.2%.

However, this is still 78.8% higher than during the same period last year.

Biggins said: “This data clearly shows that the UK job market has started to recover from the national lockdown in March, but we still have a long way to go. However, it’s likely that this new found confidence may be short lived.

“The uncertainty surrounding future government restrictions, as well as those put in place last week will force businesses to put a freeze on their hiring plans. Sadly, this will coincide with the end of the original Job Retention Scheme, which may spell bad news for professionals.

“That said, if you’re looking for a new job this quarter, it appears that competition may be less fierce than it was during Q2.”

READ MORE: Brits work over 1,000 unpaid hours every year

Some cities saw significantly bigger growth in job postings quarter-on-quarter. Leeds took the top spot, with job postings shooting up by 133.6%.

It was followed by Leicester, where job listings were up 105%, and Birmingham, where they were up 98.2%.

Meanwhile, Nottingham and Bristol round out the top five, with job listings up 95.8% and 94%, respectively.

Glasgow (91.5%), Aberdeen (88.2%), Sheffield (87.9%), Southampton (79%) and Cardiff (79%) also saw larger-than-average increases.

Watch: Why have job losses risen despite the economy reopening?