JOBLIFT STUDIES THE UK HEALTHCARE JOB MARKET’S GROWTH AMIDST STAFFING DEBATE
Berlin/Hamburg, 23 May 2017 – There has been a lot of interest in the Healthcare industry recently, given the upcoming General Election and the policies each party is suggesting to tackle the problem of staffing shortages, before Brexit may further affect the number of free movement workers to the UK. With this in mind, meta-search engine Joblift has investigated the UK’s Healthcare job market, looking particularly closely at the National Health Service (NHS) and nursing jobs and questioning whether the rise in vacancies really means growth in the market.
THE HEALTHCARE JOB MARKET HAS SEEN AN AVERAGE GROWTH OF 4% WITH GREATER LONDON HOSTING THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF VACANT POSITIONS
According to Joblift there has been an average monthly increase in the number of Healthcare job vacancies posted of 4% in the past year, compared to a growth of 2% in the UK job market as a whole. Despite fears around how eHealth and the digitalisation of the Healthcare sector would negatively affect job vacancies, Joblift found around 320,000 jobs posted since May 2016, and this, alongside the 4% growth, highlights that this eHealth threat is yet to materialise in the job sector. However, it is necessary to consider the other factors that may be affecting the rise in job vacancies, namely the shortage of staff in the Healthcare sector. The recorded rise may reveal more about the lack of candidates for the roles on offer, as opposed to highlighting actual growth in the sector.
THE NHS IS THE LARGEST DIRECT EMPLOYER IN THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY BUT RECRUITMENT AGENCIES MAKE UP SEVEN OUT OF THE TOP TEN EMPLOYERS
Unsurprisingly, the largest direct employer in the Healthcare industry is the NHS, which has advertised around 17% of all Healthcare jobs posted in the past year. The size of the National Health Service no doubt comes into play when looking at these stats. However, links can be made towards the recent changes to NHS contracts regarding longer hours and lower pay. Joblift’s research shows that when looking at both direct employers and recruitment agencies, Newcross Healthcare comes just after the NHS by posting the second highest number of Healthcare jobs in the past year, with 10,562 listings. The use of recruitment agencies in Healthcare positions, particularly in NHS hospitals and surgeries, is something which has been widely spoken of in recent times. In fact, in terms of the most active employers in this sector, recruitment agencies make up seven of the top ten employers for number of jobs posted in the past year. When looking solely at the NHS job postings since May 2016, there has been an average monthly increase of 5% in listings. London hosts the highest number of NHS job postings, with four times as many vacancies as Aberdeen which has the second highest number of listings. Interestingly, however, Aberdeen has seen a massive average monthly increase of 10%, compared to London’s 2%.
VACANCIES IN NURSING MAKE UP 43% OF ALL HEALTHCARE JOBS WITH AN AVERAGE MONTHLY INCREASE OF 7%
Joblift’s studies highlight that the profession with the highest number of job postings (both for the Healthcare industry as a whole, and when looking at the NHS alone) is nursing. Joblift’s research found that nursing vacancies saw an average monthly increase of 7% since May 2016. Nursing vacancies have made up a staggering 43% of all Healthcare jobs advertised in the past year with the top three most in demand roles being for General Nurses, Head Nurses and Mental Health Nurses, respectively. Recent statements from the Royal College of Nursing discussing a “summer of protest activity” around the shortage of nursing staff can also be supported by the fact that nursing vacancies stayed active on online job boards for 38% longer than the overall average over the past year – the average time a nursing role stays active online is 18 days, compared to the average of 13 days in the whole job sector, suggesting these roles are harder to fill. Jobs in the Healthcare sector as a whole have an average of 14 active online days, showing similarity with the overall job sector average and highlighting how nursing roles in particular are experiencing a major shortage.
About Joblift
Joblift is meta search engine for currently more than 1,000,000 jobs from over 100 partner job boards. Joblift’s customised search filters and email notifications allow users to personalise their search criteria. The company was founded in 2015 by Lukas Erlebach and Malte Widenka. At the two locations in Hamburg and Berlin, Joblift currently employs a team of around 40 employees.