While professional hiring across England and Wales decreased by a third (33 per cent) in 2020, other sectors like IT “remained resilient”, according to recruitment firms.

Research from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) and business intelligence specialist Vacancysoft shows that in Q4 2020, IT vacancies were up year-on-year, with November’s numbers increasing 9.9 per cent on the same period in 2019.

While the data revealed that a number of sectors were severely impacted last year - with numbers down 40.1 per cent and 39.1 per cent for marketing and sales roles, respectively - remote working during the lockdown fuelled jobs in IT.

As the UK scrambled for a vaccine, hiring across life sciences also remained buoyant, up 2.7 per cent year-on-year.

And while overall numbers across healthcare dropped slightly (down 3.6 per cent when compared to 2019 figures), it was one of the sectors to note a smaller impact due to the demand for front-line professionals to tackle the pandemic.

Hiring in London overall tumbled 32.3 per cent annually in 2020.

The capital’s share of vacancy numbers also dropped two percentage points since 2018, a decline that may continue in a post-Covid environment if the prime minster's “levelling up” agenda is followed through.

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