Midlands – UK Regional Labour Market Trends, February 2024
Job vacancies in 2023 fall by 23.7% compared to 2022, according to the latest UK Labour Market Trends report by leading professional body APSCo and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
Job vacancies in 2023 fall by 23.7% compared to 2022, according to the latest UK Labour Market Trends report by leading professional body APSCo and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
After enduring a challenging six months, which ultimately led to the UK entering a technical recession, signs of recovery are finally beginning to emerge. The North West region has managed to increase its share of the national total from 7.5% in 2022 to 8.5% in 2023. Turning to the current year, we observe an uptick in the northwest’s monthly average, increasing by 5.3% compared to 2023, which bodes well for regional recruiters.
In a sign of the times, industrial engineering, which encompasses aerospace and defence, has proven to be the top performing industry this past year, up 21% on 2022. At the same time the impact of quantitative tightening on the London market has been felt heavily across both finance and technology. As a result, vacancies in the capital are down 40% on the prior year.
Despite a 39% decrease in recruitment patterns in London in 2023 compared to the previous year, the city maintains a pivotal position in professional opportunities, expected to contribute 34% of the UK’s vacancies, emphasizing its crucial role in the national job market. This is according to the latest UK National Labour Market Trends report by APSCo and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
In Q1 2023, the West Midlands, with 8794 vacancies, held the largest share in the region, yet it fell short of the lowest quarter in 2022 at 8860 vacancies, while the East Midlands peaked at 5310 jobs in Q1 2023, failing to surpass the total of 6601 vacancies in Q3 2022. This according to the latest UK National Labour Market Trends report by APSCo and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.