The UK has recorded a new record high number of jobs currently being advertised at 1.85 million, according to the latest data.
After its’s been observed by recruiters that active job postings have been steadily rising since mid-June, now, according to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)’s latest Labour Market Tracker, in the week of 25-31 July, the number of open job vacancies across the UK has hit a new record high for 2022 at 1.85 million.
The number of active job adverts averaged out between 180,000 and 200,000 per week during late June and July, but in the last week of July, there were 182,000 new postings.
This is still 22% below this year’s highest figure of 234,000 – which was recorded in March.
Roles in the arts, such as actors, entertainers, presenters, dancers, and choreographers, were found to be the most in-demand according to the latest datas, with a high number of vacancies also calling for driving instructors, sewing machinists, water and sewage plant operatives, and street cleaners.
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Fitness instructors, beauticians and related occupations, and construction workers were also found to be in high demand.
Vacancies for probation officers, health and social care workers, secondary school teachers, paramedics, and more all fell in recent weeks however, according to the report.
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There were 1.85 million job adverts in the UK on the last week of July / Credit: Jose Losada (via Unsplash)
The REC said that the rising number of active postings overall likely reflects job adverts being left open for longer, with employers across the country struggling to attract candidates for their vacancies, and as a result, despite these worker shortages, rising inflation, and energy costs, there is no sign that the jobs market is starting to shrink.
“This new data shows the continued strength of the jobs market, despite any wider economic uncertainty,” explained Kate Shoesmith – Deputy Chief Executive of REC.
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“The number of job adverts being posted each week is stable.
“It’s a great time to be looking for work as a jobseeker, as employers are having to think more about the pay, benefits, conditions and development opportunities they offer both new starters and current staff as they compete for talent.”
She did admit, however, that there is a “danger” that with costs soaring, employers will have to “reprioritise”, as there is still no viable support package for businesses to meet these rising costs.
Driving instructors, dancers, choreographers, and other roles in the arts were some of the most in-demand in 2022 / Credit: Flickr | Pxhere
Ms Shoesmith continued: “We know that employers’ confidence in the broader economy has started to drop, so the government must play its role, both in supporting people and businesses through the current crisis, and also by working with industry to create a sustainable labour market.
“We need a long-term workforce strategy that encompasses skills, immigration and makes childcare and local transport part of the infrastructure of our labour market.”
When it comes to the most amount of vacancies by location, the local area with the highest increase in job adverts was Newry, Mourne, and Down in Northern Ireland (+8.3%), followed by Haringey and Islington (+7.1%), and Chorley and West Lancashire (+7.0%).
At the other end of the scale, five out of the bottom 10 local areas for growth in active job postings were in Scotland.
Greater Manchester was not named in either the top or bottom 10 local areas.
Featured Image – RawPixel
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95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’, new study reveals
Emily Sergeant
An eye-opening new study has found that only 5% of Mancs still use cash as their preferred method of payment nowadays.
It comes as no surprise that cash is less of a ‘king’ nowadays than it used to be, but now a new report by global financial technology company SumUp has suggests that only 5% of people in Manchester prefer to pay with cash, while 59% choose debit and credit cards, so that leaves one question… is Manchester on its way to becoming a cashless city?
To discover how payment preferences are evolving, SumUp conducted a nationwide survey to gather insights from UK consumers about their payment habits.
The company was particularly intrigued to not only discover payment methods people prefer, but what their concerns around certain payment methods, alongside how they feel about businesses that don’t accept digital payments.
95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’ / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash) | Pexels
Firstly, before we go any further, it’s important to note that almost two thirds (63%) of Manchester residents said they have changed the way they make payments over the past year.
Unsurprisingly, debit and credit cards remain the top choice for the majority of Mancs, with over half (59%) saying it was their preferred method of payment, followed by mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay at 24% – which is likely thanks to their ease of use and the ability to have multiple cards on one device.
While a third (31%) of Mancs said that they ‘don’t mind’ cash and still opt to carry it for situations where digital payments aren’t an option, a growing number of people in the city are feel that digital payments are more favourable, with 25% thinking that businesses should adapt to modern payment methods and whilst 28% finding it ‘inconvenient’ when a business doesn’t accept digital payments.
A further 11% of people even say that cash-only businesses wouldn’t be an option they’d consider, and would actually avoid them wherever possible.
Only 5% use cash as their preferred method of payment / Credit: Rawpixel
When it comes to concerns around digital payment methods, where do Mancs stand then? Well, the survey found that a third (33%) of people are worried about their reliance on technology, especially being unable to pay if their phone dies, for example, while an additional 32% of people are concerned about security risks such as hacking, fraud, or stolen card details.
Among other things, 26% of survey respondents also said they worry about the privacy aspect of digital banking and the tracking your data.
“While debit and credit cards continue to dominate as the preferred payment method, it’s clear that cash is slowly declining in use, particularly among younger generations,” Corin Camenisch, who is the Marketing & Growth Lead at SumUp, commented on the report.
“Looking ahead, we can anticipate a rise in innovative payment methods like digital wallets, especially as younger consumers increasingly embrace the convenience and flexibility they offer.”
Featured Image – Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)
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Met Office predicts UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer
Emily Sergeant
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year.
Fresh off-the-back of the news that 2025 is already the hottest spring on record, with a recorded 630 hours of sunshine from 1 March until 27 May, beating out the previous sunniest spring in 2020 by just four hours, the Met Office is now predicting that the UK is on the verge of a summer that’s ‘hotter than usual’.
According to its three-month outlook, the Met Office has predicted that it’s 2.3 times more-likely than ‘normal’ that it will be hot in the UK between 1 June and 31 August.
The average temperatures during those months are set to range from 10-17°C.
🌡️ ☀️ The UK has recorded its warmest and sunniest spring on record, according to provisional Met Office statistics.
Spring 2025 is now the 4th sunniest season overall for the UK, with only 3 summers sunnier since 1910.
Details in release below, or read this short thread 👇🧵
After it was revealed that this has also been the UK’s driest spring in more than a century, meteorologists are warning Brits that there could heatwave conditions could be reached at various times throughout the summer.
The release of the long-range forecast – which gives an indication of possible temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed over a period as a whole – comes after temperatures soared to 8°C (46F) above the average for this time of year this Saturday just gone (31 May).
It is important to note, however, that the Met Office thinks these predicted temperatures are similar to those in recent years, and it does not guarantee ‘prolonged’ hot weather.
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer this year / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)
The Met Office said in a statement: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.
“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.
“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”
Emily Sergeant -
12th August 2022 
