Lockdown didn’t have a negative impact on London hiring

The number of professional vacancies in London paying £40k+ continued to rise, with roles up 5.2% month-on-month – this is despite the second national lockdown last month.

The research, carried out by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) with data provided by Vacancysoft as part of its Covid hiring tracker, revealed that despite the first week of November showing a slight dip in activity (with two days seeing less than 400 roles advertised a day), volumes steadily increased throughout the month and peaked at 720 representing a 5.2% overall increase compared to October.

According to the report, this can largely be attributed to employers brushing off the effects of the second lockdown as news that the Covid-19 vaccines were soon to be entering mass production circulated.

The report also shows that across the companies hiring in London, EY overtook Amazon to take the top spot as the city’s most active recruiter with 213 vacancies advertised in November, representing a 47.9% increase on the 144 roles it posted in October.

Ann Swain, CEO of APSCo, commented, “The fact that recruitment activity in the capital continued to improve during the second lockdown – albeit with a slip dip at the beginning of November –is incredibly encouraging.

“With many fearing that lockdown would halt the recovery of the jobs market, the fact that recruitment levels increased – taking them to pre-crisis levels on some days – is a positive indicator that the progress made will continue into next year. And while we can’t ignore the fact that a no deal Brexit is a reality as negotiations stall, with the Covid vaccine being rolled out en masse, and confidence returning to the capital’s hirers as a result, we are optimistic about the future”.

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