Hiring Trends - Q4 2021

The last three months

The number of job vacancies in the UK between September to November 2021 continued to rise to a new record high. However, the rate of growth is slowing, with the latest ONS data (September to November 2021) showing that vacancies rose by 17.9%, compared to an 35.4% increase in the previous quarter.

Hiring Trends Index data from Q4 2021 showed that 38% of businesses increased their recruitment, with 9% introducing a new hiring model. The industries that were the most likely to have increased their hiring were medical & health services (45%), transport & distribution (43%) and Legal (43%), reflecting a rise in demand. In Q4 2021, Operations (28%), sales (21%) and IT/tech (20%) roles were the most in-demand roles for employers, which has been the case consistently in HTI data across the year.

Only 22% of businesses did not recruit at all in Q4 2021, the same figure reported in Q3. This highlights how many businesses are still searching for the people they need; in fact, only 16% of businesses reported that all of the vacancies they were advertising in Q4 have been successfully filled, pointing to a longer time to hire across the board. HR leaders estimate that their average time to hire in Q4 was nearly four and a half weeks (4.3 weeks).

Compared to Q3, a larger number of businesses reported no change to their workforce at all (27% Q4 vs. 18% Q3), while just over a fifth (22%) restructured teams and 10% made redundancies, the same figure we saw in Q3 following end of the furlough scheme.

Industries reporting increased recruitment in Q4 2021

Percentage of firms which increased recruitment between Apr-Jun 2021

Medical & health services 45%

Transport & distribution 43%

Real Estate 44%

Legal 43%

Media/ marketing/ advertising/ PR & sales 42%

IT & telecoms 41%

Finance & accounting 40%

Construction 39%

Manufacturing 36%

Hospitality & leisure 33%