Portsmouth: Jobs market strengthens with 'healthy pipeline of talent'

The jobs market in Portsmouth has strengthened by nearly 11% - placing the city at number seven in a top 10 for employment growth during March.

Businesses are looking to freshen up their workforce this spring, with job vacancies increasing by 7.6% across the UK last month, according to the survey by CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job site, which compared data from March 2018 with the previous month. 

The data explored fluctuations in pay, jobs and applications throughout March and the findings suggest that businesses across the nation were feeling confident last month. In fact, advertised jobs in some of the UK’s key cities witnessed stand-out growth in March. The top cities for job growth include:

1. Aberdeen – jobs up 18.4%
2. Liverpool – jobs up 14.8%
3. Sheffield – jobs up 14.8%
4. Glasgow – jobs up 12.3%
5. Cardiff – jobs up 11.2%
6. Hull – jobs up 11%
7. Portsmouth – jobs up 10.8%
8. Bristol – jobs up 10.5%
9. Manchester – jobs up 10.5%
10. London jobs up 9.1%

Some of the UK’s leading industries also saw strong job growth last month, with education (17.5%), catering (17.1%), retail (15.7%), legal (13.6%) and marketing (11.3%) vacancies all rising in March.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, commented: “It’s positive to see that businesses are continuing to drive their recruitment efforts this spring, following a strong start to the year. What’s more, the increase in vacancies can be seen across a number of key UK cities and industries, suggesting that business confidence is nationwide.”

Despite advertised salaries seeing a slight decrease of 0.3%, application rates also rose last month, increasing by 1.4% when compared with data from February 2018. What’s more, candidate applications saw impressive hikes in some of the nation’s major cities, including  Aberdeen (14.4%), Glasgow (10%), Portsmouth (9.7%), Leeds (6%) and Sheffield (5%).

Biggins added: “It’s clear that UK job hunters were also feeling optimistic in March, with application rates also increasing. This is particularly good news for businesses that are facing the backlash of a widening skills gap and suggests that there is a healthy pipeline of talent to fill their roles. As we approach the second quarter of 2018 we hope to see this confidence continue on both sides, though businesses should consider offering more competitive pay packets if they wish to see candidate appetite strengthen even further this year.”