Careers In Group Market Insights Report - October 2022

 

With unemployment at a record low and high numbers of employers with urgent requirements to fill vacancies, businesses need to work harder and smarter to attract the right talent.

We've analysed the labour market to the end of September, our own job board data and recurring themes highlighted by our clients and partners, to provide insight into the latest trends and how these are affecting the Audit and Governance recruitment and talent industries as we move towards the end of 2022.

 

Key Insights

• UK unemployment reaches record low while vacancy numbers remain high
• Increased demand for Internal Audit and IT Audit professionals globally
• Delays in release of recruitment budgets and spending approval
• Increased Audit & Governance job posting activity by employers and internal recruiters
• Continued high levels of candidate sourcing activity by recruitment agencies & headhunters

 

UK Employment Market Update

Employment rate continues on slow path to recovery

The employment rate for June to August 2022 decreased on the quarter but increased on the year and is still 1.0 percentage points below pre-pandemic rates. The number of employees decreased on the quarter, while self-employed workers increased. 

 

Payrolled employees at an all-time high

The number of payrolled employees reached 29.7 million in September, a record high, and an increase of 69,000 on the previous month. This figure is now well above pre-pandemic levels.

 

 

Unemployment rate reaches record low

The unemployment rate for June to August 2022 decreased by 0.3 percentage points on the quarter to 3.5%, the lowest rate since December to February 1974. This means that employers and recruiters are likely to have to convince candidates to change from one role to another to fill their vacancies, rather than attracting applications from those who are not currently in work.

 

 

Inactivity rate rises

The economic inactivity rate increased on the quarter and the year, and is still above pre-pandemic rates. Looking at economic inactivity by reason, the quarterly increase was driven by people inactive because they are long-term sick or because they are students. Numbers of those economically inactive because they are long-term sick increased to a record high. 

 

 

Job vacancy numbers remain high

In July to September 2022, the estimated number of vacancies fell by 46,000 on the quarter to 1,246,000, this is the largest fall on the quarter since June to August 2020. Despite three consecutive quarterly falls, the number of vacancies are still above pre-pandemic levels.

 

 

Real earnings continue to fall 

In real terms (adjusted for inflation), total pay fell by 2.4% in June to August 2022, and regular pay fell by 2.9%. Although slightly less than the record fall in real regular pay seen in April to June 2022, this is still one of the largest falls in growth since 2001. This is despite the growth in average total pay (including bonuses) coming in at 6.0% and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) coming in at 5.4% in June to August 2022, the strongest growth in regular pay seen since the pandemic.

 

 

_{(UK Employment Market Update, Source: Office for National Statistics)}

 

Careers In Group Job Board Trends

Job numbers

While still below pre-pandemic levels, the number of jobs advertised on the Careers In Group job boards has increased each month throughout 2022, almost doubling to the end of September since the start of the year. The number of new jobs posted per month increased 14% from July to August and again by 6% from August to September. Overall, monthly job numbers are on average 63% higher across the sites in 2022 compared with 2021.

 

 

 

 

Job types

The number of Internal Audit jobs live on CareersinAudit.com rose by 26% from August to September, after a slight dip between July and August. External Audit job numbers increased by 17%, also recovering after a slight decrease in the month prior. The highest increase in job numbers was seen in IT Audit jobs, increasing by 53% from August to September.

The demand for Data and Analytics professionals remained stable with no change in the number of jobs live from August to September, while Risk, Compliance, Cyber Security and ESG & Sustainability showed a very minor reduction in job numbers compared to the previous month.

 

 

Response rates

Candidate response rates remained stable across August and September 2022, increasing again after a slight reduction in activity during July and the Northern Hemisphere summer months. 

 

Direct employers vs recruitment agencies

While the numbers of jobs being advertised by Direct Employers on the Careers In Group job boards currently outstrips the jobs by Recruitment Agencies, recruiters showed a 34% increase in the number of new jobs posted from August to September, a marked increase in activity compared to the last few months. This trend is largely due to increased recruitment activity moving into Q4 and employers finding it increasingly difficult to source talent directly. Some Recruitment Agencies are also increasing their activity in general after heavily reducing their advertising during the pandemic.

Since May 2022 we have seen a significant increase in Direct Employers and companies advertising their jobs and sourcing talent directly rather than through Recruitment Agencies, to bring their candidate attraction in-house and reduce hiring costs, as well as a number of employers re-starting their hiring activity after regaining business stability post-pandemic. This is particularly visible within the Banking and Financial Services sectors.

 

 

Market Observations - October 2022

• UK banks are recruiting again in large numbers across Audit, Risk, Compliance and Data Analytics after two and a half years of reduced recruitment activity within these teams.  

• The Investment Banking sector has a growing need to rebuild and get ready for the beginning of next year/next financial year, with many firms focusing heavily on reinforcing their Cyber Security and Data teams.

• The Retail and FMCG sectors also increased activity in September 2022, with several large brand supermarkets reaching out to the Careers In Group regarding upcoming recruitment campaigns for Audit, Data and Governance professionals.

• The job market is showing signs of starting to change from candidate-driven to employer-driven in the UK due to various economic and market factors, including possible recession in the coming months and an increase in corporate recruitment in the last quarter of the year.

• Recruiters are starting to see a reduction in the number of job roles they are being given by their clients due to companies starting to reduce spend and tighten their belts due to the current economic pressure.

• HR and internal recruitment teams are being given more responsibility for hiring candidates directly as recruitment budgets reduce.

• Many large businesses are investing internally within recruitment technology. Whether this is a more streamlined CRM system, complete career site revamps or new multi-posting/ATS systems. The trend signals the intention for companies to take more responsibility for hiring talent directly moving into the last quarter of 2022 and into 2023.

 

Conclusion

Despite the current economic uncertainty, the Audit and Governance industries are still looking for talent and the number of new jobs posted onto the Careers In Group job boards each month moving into Q4 2022 is approaching the same levels as the record highs of January 2020.

With the UK unemployment rate at a record low and high numbers of employers needing to fill vacancies, businesses need to work harder and smarter to attract the right talent. With the current employment market still largely candidate-led, companies and employers looking to hire talent directly need to engage with specialist talent providers and invest in direct candidate targeting to ensure they find the right people.

With the looming threat of a recession in the UK, and an economic recession already in place in the US, it is expected that the demand for Audit, Risk and Compliance professionals will remain high for the rest of 2022 and into the first half of 2023. Company Cyber Security and Data Analytics requirements will continue to increase as we move into the New Year and ESG & Sustainability requirements are predicted to rise at a continued rapid rate as employers move towards more sustainable working practices.

 

To view a PDF copy of the October 2022 market insights report, please click here.