Job vacancies in the North of England increased by 2.3% in the 12 months to 31 July 2017 compared to the previous year according to the latest data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) and Vacancysoft.

The overall rise in demand comes despite a notable 10% month-on-month fall in vacancies in July 2016 - the month following the EU referendum.

“Under normal circumstances this modest rise in overall hiring activity may be regarded as less than impressive, but given the sharp drop in demand experienced following the referendum, the resulting growth is significantly more positive,” Moya Rylands, Regional Director at APSCo, said.

The data also shows that hiring activity across North East England, North West England and Yorkshire and Humber slowed in the latter months of last year with the number of new openings in the last five months of 2016 11.4% lower than the same period in 2015. However, the start of 2017 saw a revival in confidence and a surge in demand with vacancies up an impressive 39.4% month-on-month in January.

Of the 20 largest companies in terms of hiring volume, several recorded significant increases in vacancies in the year to 31 July 2017, most notably the BBC, which posted 36% more openings year-on-year. Uplifts were also reported for Big Four accountancy firms EY and KPMG, where vacancy numbers increased by 29% and 25% respectively. However, overall, the greatest growth in demand came from medium-sized employers. While the top 20 companies saw a combined 3.5% decrease in vacancies, firms ranked 51-100 together announced nearly a quarter (23.7%) more new vacancies year-on-year to 31 July 2017, marking a significant shift in activity.  

While IT experts continue to be the most sought-after professionals by volume of vacancies across the board  – accounting for a quarter of all new openings between the 1 of August 2015 and the 31 July 2017 (27.4%)  -  the greatest growth in demand came from the PR & marketing sector where vacancies increased 12% year-on-year to 31 July 2017.

“While a certain amount of ‘catch-up hiring’ is expected following the Christmas period, January’s boom in vacancies seems to be indicative of a widespread shift in sentiment amongst business leaders,” Rylands said. “Following an initial freeze on hiring post-referendum, pragmatic decision makers saw that the climate of uncertainty looked likely to continue throughout 2017 and, as such, took the decision to get back to ‘business as usual’ in terms of recruitment.”