New figures place Peterborough in top 10 for highest number of jobs vacancies

​Peterborough has been ranked as one of the top 10 places for job vacancies in the UK, it is claimed in a new survey.​

The city currently has an average of 137 job postings each month per 10,000 workers, according to figures released by the recruitment agency Reed.

That figure is on a par with Nottingham (147) and Oxford (165) while the top ranking city, Manchester, has 338 vacancies per 10,000 workers.

The national average is 72 vacancies per 10,000 workers.

But the figures also show that the current number of jobs vacancies in Peterborough is only just returning to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels.

Yet finding enough recruits to fill vacancies has become one of the biggest recent headaches for many companies across the city.

It has led to employers and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to organise a raft of jobs fair in Peterborough over the last few months to bring vacancies and job seekers together.

Employers have also been urged by the DWP to devise new incentives to encourage people into work.

The figures show that through 2018 and 2019 the number of vacancies was fairly consistent ranging between 159 to 166 per 10,000 workers.

But from December 2019 and through the Covid-19 restrictions the number of vacancies plummeted to its lowest level of 67 per 10,000 people in June 2020 before it began to climb again.

It reached a high of 194 in November 2021 before tailing off.

Vic Annells, chief executive of Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “We believe the problem this time is a lack of candidates, not just those with the right skills, there are just not many candidates around.

"Some people have changed career direction leaving gaps behind them, for instance NHS workers being paid less than shelf fillers in Aldi.

"We have lots of anecdotal evidence that over-50s have not rushed back to full-time work.

"Some companies require staff in the workplace daily, others offer a home-work balance.”

He said there was also a lack of flexibility on which types of jobs go on to the ‘shortage occupations list’, under which an employer can sponsor an overseas individual with the relevant skills and bring them into UK to work.