Where in the UK Is It Hardest to Find a Job?
Competition for jobs has risen most in places where work was already hardest to find, raising concerns about widening geographic inequality.
Key points:
- Competition for jobs varies widely across the UK and is higher in places with weaker economies, with nine times more local candidates per job posting in Middlesbrough than in Cambridge.
- Jobseekers tend to be less specific in their job searches in cities where jobs are scarcer, suggesting they cast a wider net in weaker labour markets.
- Competition for jobs has risen most in cities where jobs were already in short supply, raising concerns that geographic inequality could rise and posing a challenge to the Government’s levelling up agenda.
Covid-19 brought the British economy nearly to a halt, but job searches have carried on. As the pandemic took hold, unemployment claims rose rapidly and over 1.4 million CVs have been updated on Indeed since the start of the lockdown. At the same time, vacancies have plummeted as businesses struggle to cope, making it a lot tougher to find work. But jobseekers are not facing the same degree of competition everywhere in the UK.