Revealed: The most in-demand and hardest-hit job roles of 2020
Couriers are now the most in-demand job of 2020 with over 188,000 monthly vacancies for the position.
This is according to a report by Quadrotech, analysing the UK job market to reveal the most sought-after and worst hit jobs of the year.
There is little surprise that couriers take the top-spot, with companies such as Amazon profiting the most since the start of the pandemic as more people have been shopping online.
2020 has seen the biggest shake-up of the jobs market in a century, with Covid-19 causing a sudden surge in vacancies for certain positions, whilst quickly making other positions redundant.
Other jobs heavily in demand this year include: Customer services with 96,261 jobs, cleaners with 41,584 monthly vacancies and government workers with 37,289 monthly positions available.
There has also been a 671 per cent surge in the number of mental-health counsellors required since the start of the pandemic.
An increase in awareness and discussion of practising self-care and talking openly about mental health and wellbeing, have caused vacancies for mental health counsellors to rise steeply.
”The results show us that there’s a clear increase in the new ‘normal’ that comes with 2020 and mental health is leading the forefront of change, as, quite rightly, we start to prioritise caring for our mental as well as physical health. For the future, we expect technology and essential workers to be the in-demand job roles of 2021, as we hopefully begin to head back to normality,” says Nigel Williams CMO of Quadrotech.
Hardest-hit
There will be little surprise that travel agents are the worst hit job of the year. Before the start of the pandemic, there were an average of 672 vacancies a month for the position, however, this has now dropped to just 85, a decline of 86 per cent.
The travel industry has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic with many people cancelling holidays and limiting travel to avoid having to adhere to strict quarantine regulations put in place by many countries.
The three worst-hit jobs of the year after travel agents, according to the report are: chefs with an 81 per cent decline in vacancies, post room staff with an 80 per cent decline and telesales with a decrease in vacancies of 77 per cent.
Other jobs that make up the top ten hardest-hit jobs of 2020 include: office managers, business development managers, social media managers, retail managers, HR managers/directors and taxi drivers.