January rush sees application rates soar across the engineering industry

Engineering workers have started the year with a bang, with application rates in the sector soaring by a staggering 86.2% in January 2018, when comparing findings with December 2017. This is according to the latest job market data from CV-Library, the UK independent job site.

The findings indicate that despite engineering professionals remaining cautious about moving jobs in recent months, many are now ready to make their move in the labour market.

In fact, most of the UK’s major industries witnessed stand out growth in applications, with the sectors that saw the biggest increases including:

Marketing – 93.1% growth in applications

IT – 93% growth in applications

Manufacturing – 90.1% growth in applications

Accounting – 88.4% growth in applications

Construction – 87.1% growth in applications

Engineering – 86.2% growth in applications

Catering– 80.3% growth in applications

Automotive – 78.9% growth in applications

Retail – 78.4%  growth in applications

Social Care – 74.8% growth in applications



Not only this, but some of the nation’s key cities also saw application rates soar in January, with Manchester (92%), Birmingham (90.4%), Edinburgh (90.2%), Southampton (85.9%) and Bristol (873.7%) all seeing impressive growth month-on-month.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, comments: “It’s true that in recent months application rates have remained stagnant, with the ONS reporting that the unemployment rate was at the joint lowest since comparable records began back in 1971.

“But while the end of the year is traditionally a quieter time for recruitment, our Q4 job market report revealed that businesses were still working hard to attract talented engineering candidates last quarter.

“This determination has clearly paid off and candidates have come back in full force this January, with application rates seeing staggering increases across the industry. This is good news for businesses in the engineering sector, which is notoriously affected by skill shortages, particularly post-Brexit.

“This staggering increase in candidates could also be due to the recent liquidation of Carillion, which was tied to many engineering projects across the nation.”

Businesses also remained confident in January, with engineering vacancies seeing an impressive increase of 57.9% month-on-month, and 9.6% year-on-year.

Despite advertised salaries for new roles seeing a small increase of 0.4% year-on-year, this figure dropped by 3.5% month-on-month.

Biggins concludes: “It’s great to see that advertised job vacancies also rose last month, with January traditionally being a busy time for recruitment. This is most likely because organisations will have received their annual budgets and are well aware that candidates will look for opportunities in the New Year.

“This impressive data suggests that both candidates and businesses are feeling secure right now and we hope that these figures are an indication of what’s to come as we progress further into 2018.”