HR Jobs Market Update: July 2024
Peeq - The HR Recruitment Specialists
Building exceptional HR and people teams for leaders who are passionate about creating amazing places to work.
How did the HR Jobs Market Fare in Q2?
Following the end of Q2, Peeq has reflected on the UK HR jobs market (specifically London & the South East) to assess the developments since our last update a few months ago.
The conclusion is that there has been a continued decline in posted HR job vacancies, according to data from VacancySoft.
The graphs below provide a more detailed insight, but the key takeaways have been summarised here:
1. The first half of 2024 saw a 50.1% decrease in job postings compared to the first half of 2022
The graphs clearly illustrate the sharp decline in HR job postings from Q1 2022 to Q1 2024 and from Q2 2022 to Q2 2024. This significant reduction highlights the broader trend of reduced recruitment activity within the HR sector over the past two years.
2. The job posting decline from 2023 to 2024 was less severe than from 2022 to 2023
While there is still a decline, the rate at which job postings have decreased seems to be slowing down. This suggests a potential stabilisation of the market, where the steep drops seen in previous years are beginning to level off.
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3. Each year, there is a noticeable increase in HR job postings from Q1 to Q2, indicating a seasonal trend with Q2 consistently showing higher recruitment activity
The trend suggests that Q2 typically sees more recruitment activity than Q1, perhaps due to businesses ramping up their hiring efforts after the first quarter.
Whilst the general decline in posted vacancies doesn’t paint an overly positive picture, there is a silver lining.
Recent data from VacancySoft highlighted a record week for new professional vacancies in July. This uptick could be attributed to a post-election burst, signalling a positive trend for the months ahead.
Peeq has also observed a buoyant six weeks, which aligns with the British economy's 0.7% growth in Q1, the strongest expansion in over two years, which has exceeded all forecasts.
Although Q2 is likely to remain flat due to the general election's dampening effect, the jump in July vacancies is a promising sign. We feel optimistic that Q3 will see growth closer to Q1 levels as businesses begin to invest with more certainty.