Jooble, the second biggest job search engine worldwide, provides some insights on how Covid-19 has impacted the job market.
The Coronavirus outbreak has lead many people to reconsider their life and career path. During the lockdown, many signed up for numerous online courses to build on their current knowledge and others tried to learn something new. Some companies went fully remote, so workers obtained more time for side interests. Some decided now was the time to make a different career move.
Although the UK saw the number of Covid cases surge in January, the number of job seekers grew by 27% compared to December; in February, there was an even bigger increase of 35%.
Back in 2020, the only significant decline in job search was observed only in April, right after the lockdown was imposed. Since then, the number of job applications had been rising, reaching its peak in July. Such an unusual activity in the labour market in the summer is perhaps due to a high unemployment rate in the UK at the time—in fact, the highest in the last ten years. In October, with Covid cases surging, job search started to slow down and kept decreasing until December.
Lockdown generation
According to the Jooble report, in 2020, most job seekers were 25 to 34 years old, followed by people in their late thirties. Yet, in early 2021, people under 25 took second place. Young people were especially vulnerable going into this unexpected shutdown. It severely impacted the studying process, froze training and work-based learning, and deteriorated employment quality. Economists are even talking about the “lockdown generation”, for this economic and social upheaval.
While some industries have been hit hard by the lockdown, others have become more sought after. For example, the number of blue-collar job offers increased by 300% compared to February 2020. The most popular ones include warehouse operatives, support workers, and care assistants, with a promised average pay of £8 to £10 per hour. Registered nurses and driving instructors are offered the highest wage of £16 to £18.
Finding a new job is never easy, especially during a global pandemic. However, there are signs that the job market is recovering and with the help of different government schemes to kickstart early careers, there is hope the lockdown generation will be able to start seeing opportunities again.
