Job numbers dropped by a further 64.4% quarter-on-quarter, as businesses struggled to operate during the global pandemic.

The job board analysed millions of data points from its site between 1st April and 30th June 2020, to build an understanding of how Scotland’s job market faired during these months. It reveals that the largest drop in vacancies year-on-year was experienced in Aberdeen (down 80%), Perth (down 71%), Inverness (down 68.4%) and Glasgow (down 67.9%).

Alongside this, job postings dropped by 61.1% in Edinburgh, by 58.3% in Dundee and by 54.9% in Stirling.

Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, said: “It’s no secret that lockdown measures stunted Scotland’s economy and labour market during this period. As a result, businesses had no choice but to put a pause on their hiring plans and make difficult decisions about their workforce. These figures are pretty bleak and naturally, some industries and locations have been more affected by others. What I can say, however, is that the market is already showing signs of recovery this month, albeit it very, very slowly.”

Interestingly, despite job security being a major concern for many professionals right now, job applications in Scotland actually dropped by 22.6% year-on-year. What’s more, they fell by 57.2% in Aberdeen, 33% in Glasgow, 21.4% in Inverness, 16.9% in Dundee and 0.6% in Edinburgh. They actually rose by 4.6% in Stirling.

Alongside this, when looking at the average application to job ratio across Scotland, the data shows that this rose by 96.6% quarter-on-quarter; meaning there are more people battling it out for every job. The cities which saw the biggest increase in apps per vacancy were Perth (up 245%), Edinburgh (up 128.7%) and Glasgow (up 98.8%).

Mr Biggins continued:  “While applications dropped overall, there were less jobs being advertised and that means there’s a lot more competition for the roles that are available. In addition to this, while the furlough scheme has been a life support to hundreds of thousands of businesses, it does also mean that the national employment rate is possibly higher than it should be right now. As a result, we expect to see applications pick up in the coming months, as more people are forced to look for new jobs.”

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