Lockdown Didn’t Halt London’s Hiring: Roles Paying 40k+ Continue to Climb to Pre-pandemic Levels

– Jobs paying over £40k continue to rise despite lockdown and Brexit looming, up 5.2% month-on-month
– Amazon loses its crown as most active hirer in Capital, with EY overtaking the tech giant
– IT professionals in highest demand

Despite London being placed into a second national lockdown last month, the number of professional vacancies in London paying over £40k continued to increase, with roles up 5.2% month-on-month. That’s according to new research from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), the trade association for the recruitment sector.

Professional vacancies rise as employers brush off the effects of a second lockdown
The data, provided by business intelligence specialist Vacancysoft as part of its Covid hiring tracker, revealed that despite the first week of November showing a slight dip in activity (with two days seeing less than 400 roles advertised a day), volumes steadily increased throughout the month and peaked at 720 representing a 5.2% overall increase compared to October. This can largely be attributed to employers brushing off the effects of the second lockdown as news that the Covid-19 vaccines were soon to be entering mass production circulated.

EY overtakes Amazon as top hirer in the Capital
Across the companies hiring in London, EY leapfrogged Amazon to take the top spot as the city’s most active recruiter with 213 vacancies advertised in November, representing a 47.9% increase on the 144 roles it posted in October.

Elsewhere, the data reveals that 29.1% of recruitment activity amongst the city’s largest firms was for IT professionals which, as has been the case since the early days of the pandemic, can largely be attributed to the increased demand for staff to facilitate remote working practices.

Ann Swain, CEO of APSCo comments:
“The fact that recruitment activity in the capital continued to improve during the second lockdown – albeit with a slip dip at the beginning of November –is incredibly encouraging. With many fearing that lockdown would halt the recovery of the jobs market, the fact that recruitment levels increased – taking them to pre-crisis levels on some days – is a positive indicator that the progress made will continue into next year. And while we can’t be ignore the fact that a no deal Brexit is a reality as negotiations stall, with the Covid vaccine being rolled out en masse, and confidence returning to the capital’s employers as a result, we are optimistic about the future”.