JobsAndCareers_Winter2021/22 - 31

AFTER THE PANDEMIC
T
he upheaval of the past two years has left
us with an unclear picture of the jobs
market into 2022 and beyond. On the
positive side, the government's Coronavirus
Job Retention Scheme - aka furlough
- covered almost 12 million workers
and successfully prevented an unemployment epidemic.
Many UK businesses say they are looking forward to a
brighter future: in summer 2021, according to a report by
industry body CIPD, 69% said they were planning to recruit
compared with just 13% who thought they would need to
make staffing cuts. The number of jobs available has reached
one million, while official figures show redundancies have
returned to pre-pandemic levels and wages are rising.
But this doesn't tell the whole story. The sectors that were
hardest hit by Covid-19 are the ones finding it more difficult
to recover. The CIPD report showed more than half of UK
employers in the hospitality and entertainment industries
were struggling to fill their vacancies, as potential employees
steer clear of careers that were exposed as precarious by
the pandemic. Other sectors whose employment problems
have been exacerbated by the decline in EU workers, such as
healthcare and construction, are also finding it hard to recruit.
There are regional differences too: the National Institute
of Economic & Social Research (NIESR) forecasts that the
UK overall will return to 2019 employment levels by the end
of 2023, but the North West, East Midlands and South West
are not expected to have recovered by the end of 2025.
Smart thinking
The glut of job vacancies also doesn't necessarily mean the
right position or career will be open to you. At the end of
the academic year 2020-21, for example, the number of
graduate job postings on Indeed.co.uk was 24% lower than
it had been two years earlier, while the number of graduate
internships was down 41%. With many graduates now
having left the low-paying jobs they took to get through
lockdown - a trend the employment website ECB Global
calls " The Great Resignation " - competition for these
graduate positions will be even more fierce than normal.
So for those looking to enter the jobs market, whether to
start a career or change one, what's the advice? There's no
doubt you'll need to be smart, and that may mean rethinking
the career you're embarking on. Some sectors have actually
expanded during the pandemic, notably health and public
administration, IT, finance, and online retail and distribution.
These remained robust after the virus hit and are viewed
as more future-proof industries, so it is certainly worth
considering them as options even if you had not before.
Support network
Businesses and opposition politicians are also urging
the government to support people, particularly young
people, in employment. The response has mainly
jobsandcareersmag.com /// JOBS & CAREERS /// 31
Words: Chris Miller
http://Indeed.co.uk http://www.jobsandcareersmag.com
JobsAndCareers_Winter2021/22

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