The UK hiring comeback is happening, but not for everyone

The coronavirus pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on businesses all over the globe, and the UK certainly hasn't escaped unscathed. Many employers have been forced, by circumstances outside of their control, to make redundancies or – at the very least – put hiring on hold.

New data from LinkedIn's Workforce Report, however, shows that things may be heading in a more positive direction: between September and October, hiring increased by almost 6%. It's worth noting that it was still about 10% below last year’s levels, but hiring is gradually rebounding and currently stands at its highest point since Covid-19 started to impact the nation back in March. 

Right before the latest lockdown was implemented on 5 November, hiring in the UK briefly climbed above last year’s level before dipping again. 

A hiring boom

It perhaps comes as no surprise that a few industries have actually been at the centre of a hiring boom. For example, in October the hiring rate in the healthcare and transport and logistics industries were 20% and 14% higher, respectively, than at the same point in 2019.

Looking at shifts in recruiting from September to October, our data shows that certain white-collar industries are back to building their headcounts. In the legal sector, for example, hiring was 42% higher in October than September, in media and communications it was 41% higher and in finance it was up 24%.

Richard Johnson, who specialises in financial services recruitment at staffing firm Robert Walters, said he's not surprised by the findings. He explained that, earlier in the year, many firms in the sector put their hiring plans on hold and took advantage of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, placing staff on furlough. 

"As we began to come out of the furlough scheme, companies then began to execute their 2020 hiring plans, hence the increase," he added. 

Johnson said there has been a shift in the type of roles on offer since the pandemic hit and he's seen a "sharp need" for those specialising in regulatory, treasury, financial planning and analysis roles. He went on to say things are looking positive for recruitment in the financial services sector in 2021 and believes the year will get off to a strong start.

"I would expect hiring to increase throughout the year. Initial month-on-month figures are likely to be high as firms who have not hired [in this quarter] begin to do so. The month-on-month figures will of course reduce over time, but still remain in an upward trajectory."

Industries still struggling

Sadly, as the table above shows, other industries are still struggling under the impact of the pandemic. Hiring in the recreation and travel industry fell 1% from September to October and is down a massive 43% on last year.

Retail is another industry that's still suffering – it witnessed a 0.1% decline in hiring from September to October and when we compare October 2020 to October 2019, the hiring rate was down 20%.

Richard Lim, CEO of industry analysts Retail Economics, said the retail sector is currently undergoing a period of "intense disruption", with the pandemic set to cause a permanent change in the way people shop and retailers left grappling to adjust their business models to reflect these new realities.

“For many retailers, the immediate challenge is cutting costs, preserving working capital and trading through Christmas to strengthen balance sheets. With employee costs making up a significant proportion of overall operating costs, it’s understandable that retailers have cut back employment levels compared with last year, especially given the heightened levels of uncertainty," he explained.

Lim went on to say that the nature of retail jobs is also changing fast: "With a greater proportion of shopping moving online and vacancy rates on our high streets expected to rise further, it’s inevitable that there will be fewer retail jobs in the future, but those that remain are likely to be more skilled and higher paid."

The impact on women

There have been numerous headlines in recent months about the coronavirus pandemic having a greater impact on women's careers than men's. Research from LSE found that women were more likely than men to lose their jobs and also to take on extra housework and childcare during the crisis.

The pandemic has had a negative impact on the hiring rate among women, too, with LinkedIn's data showing that the percentage of women hired during the lockdown fell while the percentage of men being hired increased.

At the start of the year, 44% of those who began a new job were female, dipping to 42% in April and May. This has since risen, increasing to 47% in October.

Women over the age of 30, a group more likely to face caretaking obligations, were hardest hit. When we look specifically at roles that went to people aged over 30, some 62% of the successful applicants in April were male, which means just 38% were female. This figure fell further to 37% in May before rising steadily to reach 43% in September and dipping back to 41% in October.

Emma Stewart, CEO of flexible working consultancy Timewise, said the fact fewer women are being hired into new roles during the crisis is a problem not only for businesses, but society as a whole. 

"Increasing evidence now confirms that Covid-19 is exacerbating existing inequalities for people who need flexibility in how they work," she explained.

Stewart said women in particular are more likely to lose or give up their jobs due to the strain of increasingly long hours and remote working balanced with juggling child and elder care. Women are also more likely to be employed in frontline industries such as retail and hospitality, which have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic and are where a huge volume of redundancies have been made.

She said when employers start hiring again they need to broaden their offerings and create more part-time or flexible roles, citing Timewise research showing nine in 10 people in the UK want or need flexibility in their next job. Fail to do so and employers risk overlooking millions of talented individuals.

"Though, at present, the strides made forward for diversity and inclusion are under threat, the power to stop the clock from turning back is in our hands. We need to see a nationwide shift in the way employers design jobs and hire, and to move on from the idea of a full-time, workplace-only role somehow being the norm. It’s not."

Do any of the findings in this Workforce Report surprise or resonate with you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and subscribe to the newsletter to receive a notification when the next edition of our Workforce Insights is published. 

Methodology

The LinkedIn Hiring Rate (LHR) is the count of hires (LinkedIn members in each industry who added a new employer to their profile in the same month the new job began), divided by the total number of LinkedIn members in the UK. By only analysing the timeliest data, we can make accurate month-to-month comparisons and account for any potential lags in members updating their profiles. This number is indexed to the average month in 2015-2016 for each industry; for example, an index of 1.05 indicates a hiring rate that is 5% higher than the average month in 2015-2016.

The shares of hires by gender are calculated as the total number of women who added a new employer to their profile in the same month the new job began divided by the total number of hires for the same month. Gender is self-reported by members or inferred from LinkedIn profile data. Age is either self-reported by members or inferred from LinkedIn profile data.