Where are all the jobs? The cities and sectors hiding half a million open roles

Where are all the jobs? The cities and sectors hiding half a million open roles

Aberdeen is the best city to find a job in the UK, while Hull is the hardest, according to the latest research from job search website Adzuna.co.uk.  London is awash with demand for secretaries and estate agents, but a desert for call centre staff, while Belfast, Manchester and Edinburgh all top the lists for particular professions.

The top 50 cities in the UK were ranked by comparing the job vacancies in Adzuna’s comprehensive search index of over 500,000 live jobs to the number of claimants in each city from the latest ONS data.  Adzuna also analysed the distribution of job titles and categories to determine which jobs are in hottest demand in each city.

The study shows huge variations in the prospects for jobseekers across the country, and big differences in the types of roles in demand in different locations.  Even with unemployment reaching almost 2.7 million, it reveals clear pockets of strength in the UK job market.

Aberdeen is now the easiest place to find a job in the UK, overtaking Cambridge in the last 6 months, with more vacancies than it has unemployed.  The Scottish city’s employment growth continues to be buoyed by oil & gas, with the number of energy industry vacancies in the city at 18 times the national average.  

Southern English cities dominate the rest of the hotspot list, suggesting a continuing North/South divide.  Compared with 2011, Reading moves up to second, Cambridge slips from top to third, with London and Milton Keynes filling out the top 5.

Hull remains the hardest city to find a job with 80 applicants chasing every vacancy.  Nursing appears to be a rare bright spot in Hull, with more than a third of the city’s advertised vacancies in the healthcare sector. Stoke-on-Trent comes second, with 72 applicants per vacancy. Southend, the Wirral and Motherwell round out the worst 5 areas.

The top job sectors in demand nationally are Engineering, IT and Sales & Marketing.  Consistently strong demand for a limited supply of skilled professionals in IT and Engineering is being reflected in salaries for these roles that are over 20% above the national average.

Relative to its population, London is the top city recruiting estate agents and secretaries, but bottom of the list for call centre jobs.  Belfast in contrast tops the list for these call centre roles, with Manchester leading for marketing & sales positions and Edinburgh for finance jobs.  Liverpool is the hardest place in the UK to find a construction or IT role.

Andrew Hunter, Co-Founder of Adzuna, said “Because we list nearly every UK job ad in our search engine, we’re able to see how the employment market is changing on a daily basis.  Jobseekers can use this information to help them target their job search in the locations in demand and acquire the skills employers are looking for.  Policymakers should also take note of where the jobs are being created, and make sure that people are being trained in the right skills in the right locations.”

Best cities to find a job

Worst cities to find a job

Top Cities by Demand for Jobs per Major Sector

Bottom Cities by Demand for Jobs per Major Sector

Further regional or sector data can be made available on request.