London job market lagging behind rest of country
London’s job market is still lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of fresh opportunities, new figures today suggested.
In the week before the second national lockdown was introduced, there were 18.7 per cent fewer job listings in the capital than in the week before the first lockdown in March.
That is despite the fact that there were 1.36m job postings last week, the highest number since the same week in early March.
London is one of six regions where the labour market is yet to come back to pre-pandemic levels, the data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) showed.
However, places like the north-west, Wales, and Northern Ireland have seen new postings soar in the same period.
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In the north-west, active job adverts were up a whopping 36.8 per cent compared to March, for example.
The figures came after data from the ONS showed that redundancies hit a record high in the three months to September.
Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, said: “Unemployment and redundancy numbers earlier this week showed that this is a tough moment for our jobs market.
“With the stark difference in demand across different regions, avoiding a skills mismatch will require serious planning.”