London jobs market the worst in the country as vacancies fall by 60pc

There are more than forty people chasing every vacancy in parts of London – higher than any other city in Britain, new research seen by this newspaper shows.  

Vacancies in the capital have fallen by almost 60pc since the start of the coronavirus pandemic while the number of people unemployed and claiming benefits has more than doubled, according to jobs site Adzuna, which led the analysis.

This is the highest rate of increase of any region in England.  Since March the number of available jobs in London has fallen from 200,000 to 85,000. At the same time, the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits has risen by 150pc, from 185,000 to 460,000, data from the Office for National Statistics shows. 

London has gone from having more vacant roles than unemployed people before the crisis began to having on average more than five people out of work chasing every vacancy in the capital. While there are other cities with worse overall ratios – Belfast, for example, has 11 job seekers per job – at a local authority level the capital has fared worst of all. 

More than a third of all areas with thirty or more benefits claimants per vacancy are London boroughs. In areas such as Lambeth, Haringey, Brent, and Barking and Dagenham there are now more than forty people competing for each available job. Back in March these areas had a maximum of 12 job seekers per vacancy and some had as few as eight.

Across Britain as a whole the number of job seekers per job more than tripled from four in March to 13 in June. 

Tony Wilson of research centre the Institute for Employment Studies, which co-authored the analysis, said: “Without doubt, this is now the toughest jobs market in a generation, and there are no signs yet of a significant recovery. For London in particular, we need to ensure that there is safe, accessible and affordable transport and childcare so that people can get to the jobs that are being created.”

Alternative research by CV-Library, another jobs board, found that there are 41 applicants for every job in the capital, making it the most competitive city to find work in the country alongside Birmingham. The next most competitive place is Newcastle, where there are currently 33 people fighting it out for every role.

This time last year job applicants in the capital were competing against just 18 other people. On average across Britain there are now 24 applicants for every job – more than double the number there were in July 2019 (11). 

Adzuna’s Andrew Hunter predicted that competition for jobs would only get more intense after the Government’s job retention scheme winds to a close in October. However, he added: “It’s not all doom and gloom though and our analysts are optimistic that hiring rates will continue to increase over the summer.”  

Britain’s jobs market is showing signs of perking up. Just over 63,000 new vacancies have been added since the start of June – although the total number of available jobs is still less than half of what it was in February, Adzuna’s data shows.  One of the sectors bouncing back most quickly is hospitality. Vacancies in this industry have almost doubled since it reopened its doors to customers this month and are continuing to grow.

Some business owners are less optimistic. Harneet Baweja who owns Gunpowder Restaurants, a small chain of London eateries, said:  “The Government’s Covid-19 economic relief schemes barely tap the surface of what’s needed in the capital. Take the business rates relief scheme, for example. The Government has said that retail businesses in England with a rateable value below £51,000 won’t pay any business rates until March 2021. But that won’t make much of a difference in central London where a restaurant could have a rateable value of more than £100,000.”