New Report: UK Regional Labour Market Outlook 2022

Following a year of huge disruption in 2020, the UK saw employer demand not only recovering in 2021, but reaching levels far above that seen prior to the pandemic.

As our new UK Regional Labour Market Outlook report shows, with the exception of London, all regions of the country experienced double-digit growth in job postings over the last two years, with Wales in particular seeing huge growth from January 2020 to December 2021 (95.6% growth), followed by the North East (72.7%), East Midlands (68.1%), and Northern Ireland (52%).

London, by contrast, has not yet returned to pre-Covid levels, with job postings still 0.6% down on January 2020, which is likely due to factors such as fewer people commuting into the capital, and tourist numbers well below their usual levels.

This is the second annual UK Regional Labour Market Outlook, and once again we look at a number of key metrics describing the labour market across the UK, its 12 Government Office Regions, and the most populous towns and cities in those areas, including:

• Employment and unemployment
• Long-term job trends
• Employer demand
• Niche industries and occupations
• In-demand job titles and skills

By looking at the labour market at the regional and city level, the report sheds light on what is driving recovery in each area.

For instance, the data not only shows some of the fastest growing skills across the UK over the last year were Onboarding (166% growth), Restaurant Operation (164%), and Sustainability (122%), but that certain skills became more in-demand in specific areas of the country, such as Biotechnology in the South East (187%), Digital Marketing in Scotland (142%), Clinical Research in Southampton (124%), and Automation in Norwich (222%).

Given the rather dismal situation in which we published last year’s report, following a year of massive disruption, it’s quite incredible to look back on 2021 and see the extent to which the labour market recovered from a situation in which there were genuine concerns of historic levels of unemployment, to employer demand rising to unprecedented levels and employers having real difficulties finding the talent they need to grow their businesses. The report really gets into the details of this at the regional level, and shows what has been driving demand in different areas.

In addition to the main report, we have also produced free localised reports for every Local Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership area in the country.

To access both the main report and the localised reports, go to the report webpage here.