Vacancies Hit Record High In the UK After Lifting Lockdown

Key Highlights:

• Overview
• Increase in Vacancies

According to official statistics, job vacancies have risen to the highest ever in the United Kingdom, showing that the economy is bouncing back after the Coronavirus-led lockdown was lifted.

Increase in Vacancies

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of vacancies rose by around 290,000 from May to July this year to a whopping total of 953,000 vacancies reported.

Jonathan Athow from the statistics agency said “There was no sign of redundancies starting to pick up in our survey data ahead of the furlough scheme beginning to wind down."

This growth came at a period when the UK government lifted most of the restrictions of Covid-led lockdown after the quick rollout of vaccines.

The growth was particularly noticeable in the arts, leisure and food service sectors which had been hurt the most by the multiple lockdowns in the country.

In addition to the good news, the statistical agency also added that the number of people employed rose by 182,000 to a gigantic total of 28.9 million. 

Looking at these figures, Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies said that “Today’s figures show that the recovery continued to gain momentum through the spring as restrictions eased. Put simply, labour supply just can’t keep up with employer demand."

These figures have raised expectations that the UK government’s resolution on ending the Job Retention Scheme, introduced at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, won't lead to job losses.

Under the scheme, the UK paid 80% of the salaries of workers who could not work due to the nation-wide lockdown. The program is being discontinued and will stop at the end of September.