Job vacancies hit record high

Record vacancy levels and headline-grabbing earnings growth point to a seemingly buoyant labour market. But with the furlough scheme now ended, we don’t yet know what has happened to the 1.4-1.8 million workers still on full or partial furlough by mid-August.

Lockdown effects are contributing to elevated Average Weekly Earnings growth, 7.1% in the year to July (5.9% excluding bonus payments). There seems no such fluke in the job vacancy figures, which have passed one million for the first time since records began, while payroll employee numbers are back to pre-pandemic level (29.1 million).

But what about unemployment? At 4.6% (May-July) the overall rate is still above its pre-pandemic level. It remains significantly higher in some regions, like London 6.0%, the North East 5.3% and the West Midlands 5.1%.

Within that, the unemployment rate for Black and minority ethnic workers rose at three times the speed of the rate for White workers during the pandemic, from 6.1% to 8% (TUC, August).

It reached 9.5% in 2020 (House of Commons Library) including 13.8% for Black/African/Caribbean/Black British people, compared with 4.5% for people from a White ethnic background.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/latest