Portsmouth: Job market strengthens as city comes top for vacancy growth

Portsmouth’s job market has continued to strengthen, with the latest data from the UK’s leading independent job board, CV-Library, finding that job vacancies and applications saw impressive growth in the first quarter of the year.

CV-Library’s Q1 job market report, which compared data from Q1 2017 with Q1 2016, found that job vacancies saw a significant increase of 61.9% in Portsmouth – higher than any other UK city. The top 10 cities for job vacancy growth over the period were:

1. Portsmouth – 61.9%
2. Hull – 30.6%
3. Exeter – 21.5%
4. Brighton – 20.6%
5. Glasgow – 19.2%
6. London – 13.4%
7. Guildford – 12.2%
8. Sheffield – 8.2%
9. Manchester – 7.2%
10. Birmingham – 4.4%

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, commented: “It is fantastic to see the job market in Portsmouth not only holding its own, but also expanding throughout the first quarter of the year. It is particularly promising to see a huge number of businesses in the city actively looking for new candidates, in a bid to bring the top talent into their workforces.”

Additionally, total job applications in Portsmouth have seen similarly encouraging growth, increasing by 39.4% when compared to the last year – far outstripping the UK average of 3.3% – and highlighting the keen candidate appetite in the city.

Biggins added: “The first quarter of the year has proved to be a successful time for candidates and companies alike. With a huge number of job hunters looking for work, businesses should have a very deep talent pool to choose from when it comes to filling a vacancy, though it is important to note that candidate appetite is not rising at the same rate as hiring demand. That said, eager candidates that are looking will clearly reap the benefits of more jobs being on offer, as companies look to ensure they remain competitive.”

“2017 will inevitably bring a range of challenges to the job market, with the likes of Brexit, the ‘gig’ economy and worker automation constantly under the spot-light. However it is very promising to see the core job market strengthening and expanding in Portsmouth throughout this period.”