ABERDEEN has been named the worst in a UK-wide cities study revealing a slump in job vacancies during lockdown.
A collapse in local service jobs in the hospitality, retail and arts and leisure sectors has been blamed for a 75% fall in employment vacancies as Covid-19 lockdown measures have hit the city’s labour market hard.
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Figures from economic think tank Centre for Cities and the Indeed recruitment site show Aberdeen was the most impacted UK city – followed by Edinburgh and Belfast – which had a 57% and 55% fall in vacancies, respectively.
The research found that Aberdeen’s summer Covid-19 lockdown had impacted its ability to recover in the same way as other major UK cities.
Elena Magrini, senior analyst at Centre for Cities, said: “Aberdeen has the lowest number of job postings compared to this time last year, and most of that is due to social-distancing restrictions, which means that a lot of local services businesses on the high street struggle to operate – especially with more people working from home and not going to the city centre.”
No other Scottish cities made the top 10 for the highest drop in vacancies.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We provided £1 million to Aberdeen City Council in August to help provide support to businesses affected by the restrictions in place at the time.
“Last week we increased the grant funding available to businesses.
“We understand that Aberdeen City Council has not yet fully distributed the £1 million to local businesses, and look forward to discussion with the council on how the remaining funds provided by the Scottish Government to support economic recovery will be used.”
