Tech leads UK jobs vacancy surge

Job vacancies in the UK increased by 34 per cent last week compared to the corresponding period in August, according to real-time statistics compiled by Broadbean Technology, a global network of jobs boards.

David Sapsted

29 September 2020

Although London continued to dominate the market last week, with a 15 per cent share of all advertised vacancies - itself a 20 per cent on the previous seven days - Broadbean said the upward trend was repeated in "numerous" cities across the UK.Manchester, for instance, saw a 32 per cent, week-on-week rise while Birmingham recorded a 22 per cent jump. "This is indicative of a continued attempt by businesses to ‘return to normal’ as more employers adapt to an extended period of remote working," said the company. Alex Fourlis, managing director at Broadbean Technology, said: “While there’s a level of uncertainty still, September’s figures suggest that the UK is adapting to this ‘new normal’, with job numbers remaining at promising levels.“We are still facing tough economic times and we are by no means out of the woods yet. However, these promising signs indicate that for some employers at least, resilience remains intact.“And with the chancellor announcing further measures to not only secure jobs, but also extend loan schemes for businesses, we hope that this positive trend in recruitment continues in the immediate future.”Broadbean’s analysis found that across all sectors, IT vacancies remained high, accounting for almost ten per cent of all jobs advertised during the week ending September 20, representing a 39 per cent week-on-week rise in the lead-up to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that employees should return to remote working where they could.

“With predictions that this home working rule will remain in place for a possible six-month period, this demand for tech experts will likely continue on this upward trajectory in the immediate future as businesses seek the tech expertise to manage and update IT infrastructures,” reported Broadbean.Even outside of main employment hubs such as London and Manchester, a report from Tech Nation earlier this month showed that technology jobs represented between 23-26 per cent of job opportunities in the likes of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Reading and Belfast.Bev White, CEO of global recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider Harvey Nash, said its annual survey, compiled in conjunction with KPMG, showed that “the majority of the UK’s tech leaders are either increasing or retaining their staff over the year ahead, with 82 per cent of IT leaders in the UK expecting their technology headcount to increase or stay the same". She added: “Skills that are in most demand are cyber security, architecture, organisational change, and cloud. Furthermore, our research has found that the UK’s tech leaders are also hiring across the country, with more IT leaders in the North West, in technology hubs such as Manchester, planning to increase their technology headcount over the next year than in London. Both of these cities expect to recruit for more technology roles than the UK average.”