It already has been a year since Wales approached its first coronavirus-related lockdown measures.
Keeping a distance, rare travels from home to the supermarket, endless zoom calls, and wearing a mask – all these attributes have become an indispensable part of our routine. The coronavirus pandemic is far from being over, but life goes on. The labour market has been adjusting to new conditions. People need new sources of income, while employers are demonstrating more willingness to hire.
What does the situation look like nowadays? Which industries show the highest demand for employees, and if their expectations overlap with candidates’ interests? Where to look for the job, and who is the most active at searching?
Specialists from Jooble, the world’s second-biggest job search platform, prepared an overview of the labour market situation in Wales.
The first two months of 2021 have shown traditional growth in activity among job seekers. Be it a modest but encouraging fall in case rates or New Year resolutions – people start looking for vacancies almost 30% more active than in December.
Figures as of the first months of 2020 users have not reached yet. However, June and July became the most fruitful in terms of job search for the Welsh. Since autumn, figures have been slowly decreasing and traditionally reached their minimum before Christmas.
Most of the candidates are 25-34 years old. It continues a trend from last year. Youth is actively searching for new career opportunities, while the number of people on temporary layoff is still pretty high. Yet, there is a silver lining.
If you are also currently looking for a job, start with Cardiff and Newport. 45% of vacancies employers posted in these areas. They are followed by Swansea, Wrexham, Bridgend, and Caerphilly. Most job openings done over the past two months are from these cities.
Since the pandemic outbreak, a firm trend on blue-collar jobs in the healthcare sector remains relevant worldwide, and Wales is no exception. Among the most frequently searched vacancies, absolute leaders are pharmacy delivery drivers, hospital porters and cleaning staff for clinics. Besides that, people in Wales are active at looking for vacancies in retail (assistants at Tesco, Amazon, Sainsbury’s). Takeaway delivery drivers, dog walkers, pet sitters, and leaflet distributors remain popular among students. They also consider options of working at the post offices. To sum up, job-seekers prefer opportunities without a need for relevant experience or a long-lasting hiring process. They also can be done part-time and paid in cash.
The situation with the requirements of employers differs a bit. Although support workers and care assistants are the most frequently posted vacancies over the past two months, higher-skilled professions are right behind.
Since the beginning of 2021, the demand for personal trainers and registered nurses has significantly increased. There are also many fresh vacancies for gas engineers, SEN teaching assistants, IT support administrators and network technicians.
As we can see, pandemic keeps shaping the labour market situation in Wales, reflecting at the same time mutually excluding tendencies, such as high demand for mostly manual jobs and the need to master skills from white-collar sectors.
Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay