At a time when the sector has been depressed by the cyclical downturn due to quantitative tightening, this has led to a drop of 34.8% in London and 19.4% regionally. Within law firms, real estate remains the top skill in demand, although its market share has slipped from 22% in 2022 to 18% in 2023. This is partly due to a hefty 37% fall in vacancies in this area in 2023 as the commercial property sector has slowed down.
The biotech sector has been on a downward trend this year, with vacancies down 34% in 2023. With that, the first quarter saw the highest concentration of job postings, tallying 351 vacancies. Indeed, January and March were the top two months in 2023, with 131 and 123 vacancies respectively. This is according to the latest Life Sciences Labour Market Trends report by CPL and market data analysts Vacancysoft.
While 2023 has seen significantly lower levels of recruitment for clinical-specific functions, the forecast for 2024 is bullish, with the immediate projection being for two times more clinical vacancies in 2024 than in 2023.
When analyzing trends in Med Tech, we see 2023 is set to witness a substantial 27.9% increase in vacancies compared to 2019, indicating steady and robust growth. Similarly, in 2023, scientific jobs are projected to represent a 21.2% share of all vacancies, marking a notable improvement compared to the 14.2% share recorded in 2022, according to the latest Life Sciences Labour Market Trends report by CPL and market data analysts Vacancysoft.
Fixed-Term Contract Scientific vacancies remain relatively stable, maintaining a 5.3% share of all scientific vacancies. Equally, this represents the highest share observed since 2021, suggesting a continued demand for temporary scientific roles, despite a sharp fall in perm vacancies, according to the latest Life Sciences Labour Market Trends report with CPL and Vacancysoft.