In June 2014, the British Government of the time, announced their headline scheme to power growth in the north. “The Northern Powerhouse” was meant to bring together cities across the North, so that they collectively could ‘take on the world’ in the words of George Osborne, who announced the initiative. Upon it being announced, a swathe of initiatives were introduced, to stimulate investment, including the Greater Manchester devolution deal along with the Northern Transport strategy. With that, what we have seen, is a geographic area that had when it was launched, accounted for 16.7% of the population of the country and 13% of the vacancies, see their share of the vacancy market rise to 20% now. Put simply, in terms of job creation, the North is outperforming the rest of the country.
“In a boom market, anyone can make money, to grow when the economy turns, that’s the real challenge.”
The latest economic data to be released, will be of concern for recruiters, more than anyone. The economy is contracting. Whilst there has been a bounce in hiring over summer, this should give room for pause, for businesses, thinking about their next twelve months. Stick or twist, expand or contract? But even if recruitment is tidal, can a recruiter beat the tide? I would argue, with data, they can.
As one of the largest insurance markets in the world, the UK industry is surpassed in size only by the U.S., China, and Japan, where London is at the heart of that. With that, since quantitative tightening was initiated last summer, nearly all other market segments have slowed down in the capital. Not with Insurance, with January 2023 hitting all-time record levels according to Insurance specialists Harrison Holgate, and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
The long-term impact of COVID has yet to be felt on the economy. Equally, the societal change is already here. Work from home and hybrid is now becoming de-rigeur, where for people with London based jobs, it is increasingly a pre-requisite, especially when factoring the commute times. This is creating its own conflict within Financial Services, especially, as banks push for people to be back to work, equally are increasingly flexible about which work location is used. For example, HSBC now employs more people in Birmingham than in London.
After a roller coaster period, with record numbers of vacancies in 2022, there are signs the market is now starting to normalise, where by most accounts, it is now stabilising at the levels seen in 2019, so before the pandemic according to a new report by APSCo, and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
