According to the latest quarterly job market report from CV-Library, job applications in the construction sector grew by 44.5% in Q3 2020 and by 21.2% year-on-year.
The report looks at job market data throughout Q3 2020 and compares this with findings from the previous year. It reveals that the construction sector, alongside the following industries, saw the highest growth in applications quarter-on-quarter:
- Administration (up 90.2%)
- Recruitment (up 85.5%)
- Marketing (up 78.6%)
- Sales (up 77.7%)
- Telecoms (up 74.6%)
- Legal (up 61.5%)
- Finance (up 58.6%)
- Education (up 51.5%)
- Electronics (up 46.9%)
- Construction (up 44.5%)
Of course, there are numerous factors to consider regarding the growth in applications, the main one being the coronavirus. With redundancies in all sectors, construction being no exception, there are many more people in the job market than in previous years. The situation is unfortunate and no one wants to see people out of work, but at the same time there is a great opportunity for construction firms to secure some of the best talent.
The data also reveals that the number of job postings has increased by 213.4% between Q2 and Q3 2020. However, the number of roles advertised between July and September is still 19.2% lower than at the start of the year.
What’s more, as vacancies continued to rise during Q3, the number of applications per vacancy dropped by 53.9%. However, this is still 85.5% higher than during the same period last year.
SAEMA has closely monitored the health of the construction industry since the start of COVID-19. It has recovered quickly and well compared to many sectors but there is still a lot of ground to make up.
The uncertainty surrounding future government restrictions, as well as those put in place last week will force businesses to put a freeze on their hiring plans. Sadly, this will coincide with the end of the original Job Retention Scheme, which may spell bad news for professionals.
SAEMA (Specialist Access Engineering and Maintenance Association) is the national trade body for the permanent and temporary façade access equipment industry. It exists to raise national and international standards in the UK permanent and temporary access industry through best practice. We are the only trade association dedicated to this specialist sector; worker safety and the elimination of accidents is the ultimate goal.
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