Hampshire: Vacancies soar but fewer people are looking for work

The traditional January jobs boom saw advertised vacancies soar by 63.8% last month, according to the latest job market statistics from Hampshire-based CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job site. What’s more, vacancies also saw a smaller increase of 5.6% when looking at year-on-year data.

Applications also sky-rocketed in January, increasing by 79% when comparing data with December 2018 findings. While this appears to be positive news for businesses, this comes as little surprise, given that the start of the year is often a busy time for recruitment after the December slow down.

Looking at the bigger picture, the findings reveal that applications were actually down by 13% year-on-year. Yet despite this fall, the amount of candidates registering their CV on CV-Library was up 17.9% year-on-year. This suggests that while professionals may not have made their next career move yet, many could be preparing to do so.

Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, commented: “Our latest job market statistics are a bit of a mixed bag. While the figures seem largely positive for this month, we simply cannot ignore the fact that candidate applications are down year-on-year and it’s no secret that the government’s failure to agree an effective Brexit deal is the key driving factor behind this.

“What’s more, unemployment is at its lowest rate since the mid-70s and while this is good news for the labour market and our economy, it’s having a knock-on effect on the job market, with less candidates actively looking for work. Coupled with the fact that less EU nationals are exploring employment opportunities in the UK, businesses are having to work harder than ever to fill their vacancies and plug the skills gap.”

The statistics also reveal that average salaries for new jobs rose by 3.1% year-on-year, as organisations strive to provide the most competitive job offerings.