We regularly update this report to track the pandemic’s effects on the labour market. 

Job postings growth on Indeed UK continues unabated. Job postings — a real-time measure of labour market activity — were 26.3% above the 1 February 2020, pre-pandemic baseline, seasonally adjusted, as of 27 August 2021. That was a 4.8 percentage point (ppt) gain from a fortnight ago and extended the current period of continuous improvement to twenty successive weeks. Though survey indicators suggest a recent loss of growth momentum for the UK economy, the job postings upswing shows no sign of waning. 

A line graph titled “Job postings on Indeed UK”
A line graph titled “Job postings on Indeed UK” showing the percentage change in job postings on Indeed UK since 01 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 27 Aug 2021. There was a 26.3% change in UK job postings on Indeed from 01 Feb 2020 to 27 Aug 2021.

Chemical engineering growth 

The biggest improvement in trend during the past fortnight was for chemical engineering (mainly driven by gas engineer jobs). This was followed by cleaning & sanitation, construction, installation & maintenance, loading & stocking and veterinary.

Table titled “Chemical engineering growth.”
Table titled “Chemical engineering growth.” Indeed compared the percent change in UK job postings, between 01 February, 2020, and 27 Aug 2021 across various sectors divided into sections “strongest performers,” and “weakest performers.” The strongest performers were chemical engineering, cleaning & sanitation and construction, while the weakest performers were personal care & home health, nursing and customer service.  

North East continues to lead job posting recovery

All regions saw improvements in the latest fortnight. The North East remains the strongest performer, with jobs postings 57% above the pre-pandemic baseline. London continues to experience the weakest job posting recovery (9% above baseline). 

Bar graph titled “Job postings on Indeed UK.”
Bar graph titled “Job postings on Indeed UK.” This bar graph shows the percentage change in job postings on Indeed UK since 01 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 27 Aug 2021. The North East saw a 57% change, the largest, while London saw the lowest % change at 9%.

Northern cities and large towns lead job posting recovery

Job postings are furthest above pre-pandemic levels in Middlesbrough, followed by Barnsley, Stoke and Sunderland. 

As we discussed in a previous post, posting recovery has been fastest in cities with higher shares of manufacturing, distribution, healthcare and education jobs, while areas reliant on hospitality, tourism and highly paid, white-collar, work-from-home jobs trail. 

Aberdeen, Crawley and Aldershot are the only three cities and large towns we track where job postings have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. 

Table titled “Middlesbrough leads job postings recovery.”
Table titled “Middlesbrough leads job postings recovery.” This table shows the percentage change in job postings on Indeed UK since 01 Feb 2020, seasonally adjusted, to 27 August 2021. Middlesbrough saw a 73% change, the largest, while Aberdeen saw the lowest % change at -24%.

We host the underlying job-postings chart data on Github as downloadable CSV files. Typically, it will be updated with the latest data one day after this blog post was published.

Methodology

All figures in this blog post are the percentage change in seasonally-adjusted job postings since 1 February, 2020, using a seven-day trailing average. 1 February, 2020, is our pre-pandemic baseline. We seasonally adjust each series based on historical patterns in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Each series, including the national trend, occupational sectors, and sub-national geographies, is seasonally adjusted separately. We adopted this new methodology in January 2021. 

The number of job postings on Indeed.com, whether related to paid or unpaid job solicitations, is not indicative of potential revenue or earnings of Indeed, which comprises a significant percentage of the HR Technology segment of its parent company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Job posting numbers are provided for information purposes only and should not be viewed as an indicator of performance of Indeed or Recruit. Please refer to the Recruit Holdings investor relations website and regulatory filings in Japan for more detailed information on revenue generation by Recruit’s HR Technology segment.