The month of July saw more than a million job openings, the first on record since the economy recovers from the pandemic.
Figures published by the ONS also showed that the number of employees on payrolls rose by 182,000 last month – though this was still 201,000 below the pre-crisis levels.
Arts, leisure and food service firms were among those making a big contribution to the surge in job vacancies.
Ruth Gregory, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said the jobs data should calm fears that the ending of government support measures could send unemployment higher.
“The figures add weight to our view that there won’t be a big shake-out in employment once the furlough scheme expires at the end of September.
These figures show a jobs market in robust recovery as the economy reopens and the furlough scheme starts to be phased out. Employment is up on all measures, unemployment down and experimental numbers in the month of July showed there are over one million vacancies.
There are record numbers of unfilled jobs, in sectors such as entertainment, accommodation and food, underlining the concerns of industry on labour shortages.
The number of payroll jobs reported on the HMRC systems is now very close to its pre pandemic level at 28.9 million, now compared with 29 million in March 2020. That number is up 576,000 over the past year and 182,000 up in July alone.
Following this positive news for the recruitment industry, we are on hand to support our clients as the temporary market scales up. With additional services to benefit any sector, contact us to discuss our bespoke service offering, and how we can support your business as we all recover from the impact of the pandemic. Contact us on 01252 863700 or email sales@epayme.co.uk
Source: BBC News