London jobs market shows signs of recovery after 50 per cent hike in listings
London has begun to recover from a swathe of redundancies handed out during the pandemic, with job listings in the capital hiking more than 50 per cent over the last three months, according to new research.
Adverts for jobs based in London jumped 52 per cent between July and September, data from independent job board CV Library showed, as businesses picked up customers after months of closure during lockdown.
Job applications in the capital climbed by a third over the summer months, after cafes and restaurants embarked on huge hiring sprees to meet demand spurred by the chancellor’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
“It’s great to see that so many businesses in London have restarted their hiring efforts over the summer,” said CV Library chief executive Lee Biggins. “This was likely triggered by a boost to the economy thanks to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the easing of national lockdown restrictions.”
However, the figure still marks a significant slump from pre-pandemic levels, with the number of job listings over the summer around 19 per cent lower than at the start of the year.
Tier 2
It comes after London saw a swathe of new restrictions come into force over the weekend, as the capital moved from Tier 1 to Tier 2 under the new local lockdown system.
The fresh measures mean Londoners are now banned from mixing indoors with other households, while further restrictions could join the current 10pm curfew on hospitality venues if current rules fail to quell a recent spike in infections.
Leading trade body UK Hospitality has warned that tougher Tier 2 Covid restrictions will put up to 250,000 jobs at risk in London’s hospitality sector, sparking demonstrations from the capital’s chefs, waiters and pub landlords in Parliament Square earlier this week.
Almost 750,000 people in the UK have already been laid off since March, according to data from the Office for National Statistics, with more than 227,000 redundancies handed out between June and August alone.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak earlier this month unveiled an extension to the Job Support Scheme, which is due to replace the furlough scheme when it winds down next week.
Sunak announced the government will pay two thirds of employees’ salaries to businesses forced to shutter under fresh lockdown measures.
But business bodies urged the chancellor to “go further” to avoid wide-scale job losses from local lockdown measures under the country’s new three-tier system.
“The uncertainty surrounding future government restrictions, as well as those put in place last week will force businesses to put a freeze on their hiring plans,” said Biggins.
“Sadly, this will coincide with the end of the original [furlough scheme], which may spell bad news for professionals.”