Data and tech roles grow as marketing jobs fall 40%

Anyone still in any doubt that digital, data and tech jobs are the future need look no further than a new study of the professional recruitment sector, which reveals that while marketing jobs crashed by 40% last year, tech roles have remained resilient to the Covid axe.

Using data provided by business intelligence specialist Vacancysoft, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) report shows that, overall, professional hiring across England and Wales decreased by a third (33%) in 2020 as the pandemic spread.

London has borne the brunt of the cuts, with hiring in the capital plummeting 32.3% compared to 2019. The stats also highlight that London’s share of vacancy numbers has dropped two percentage points since 2018. APSCo reckons this could continue if Boris Johnson’s pledge to “level up” the country and redistribute the nation’s wealth is actually implemented.

While the data reveals that a number of sectors were severely impacted last year – with drops of 40.1% and 39.1% respectively for marketing and sales roles – digital, data and tech vacancies continue to grow.

For instance, during Q4 tech vacancies were up year-on-year, with November’s numbers rising 9.9% compared to the same period in 2019.

Hiring across life sciences has also remained buoyant, up 2.7% year-on-year, and although overall numbers across healthcare dropped slightly (down 3.6% when compared to 2019), it was one of the sectors to note a smaller impact due to the demand for front-line professionals to tackle the pandemic.

APSCo chief executive Ann Swain said: “As we entered 2020, many economic experts had last year firmly positioned as the year which would be dominated by Brexit. No one could have predicted that as the year drew to a close, we were not only still battling the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, but were also wondering right until the 11th hour whether a Brexit deal would be struck.

“As a result of the huge challenges that the coronavirus has had on the professional recruitment market, it’s perhaps unsurprising to see that vacancies have reduced heavily throughout the UK when compared to 2019.

“Despite this, however, it is by no means all doom and gloom. While some sectors have been hit particularly hard by national and local lockdowns – most notably consumer goods and services, for example – others have remained resilient and reported strong growth.

“It remains to be seen how the latest lockdown will affect future professional recruitment activity. However, we are cautiously optimistic that the worst is behind us and that the mass vaccination programme will help some sense of normality return towards the middle of 2021.”

TOPICS:data strategy recruitment technology