The second quarter of 2021 saw the summer arriving in Dorset and most of the economy opening up after an important milestone of 1 million vaccines administered was reached.
There was a renewed optimism brought by football successes, and while it didn’t come home, nearly half a million visitors did - in a single weekend in July.
Our latest round of insights shows a buoyant labour market with an exponential growth in vacancies across all sectors and noted decline in furlough and youth unemployment, but also widely reported labour shortages.
Download the key Quarter 2 findings.
Read full Dorset Labour Market & Skills Insights - Quarter 2 report.
Mira Koseva, Dorset LEP Skills Analyst, presents the main findings of the Quarter 2 report in the video below.
You can use the dashboard to explore the latest labour market developments. Insights should be read in conjunction with the LMI during COVID-19 guidance.
Key findings:
Positive news on employment, furlough and out-of-work benefits levels
Employment/ Unemployment rates fell more notably in Dorset LEP area in 2020 yet still compared favourably to the national levels. The number of out-of-work benefit claimants in Dorset declined by a fifth and furloughed jobs halved in June compared to a peak in March.
There were still 20,290 people on out-of-work support - 4.5% of the working age Dorset residents (5.6% UK) and 27,700 furloughed jobs (9% of eligible employments).
National reports of continuous improvement should be reflected locally, moving the labour market closer to pre-pandemic state.
Disproportionate pandemic impact on young, old people, women and self-employed
Throughout 2020, 8,400 people left employment in Dorset and 81% of these were in the 16-24 age bracket.
The proportions of young people in receipt of unemployment benefits also remains higher, but the rate of decline has accelerated, reflecting increased vacancies and the effectiveness of targeted support, such as the Kickstart scheme.
4,500 workers aged 50 and over became economically inactive in 2020, suggesting older workers were at highest risk of inactivity.
The number of unemployed women more than doubled and accounted for 62% of the overall increase in unemployment throughout 2020.
Self-employed also continue experiencing hits from the pandemic with 22,900 in receipt of Self Employment Income Support (3,300 up) and 6,800 fewer self-employed in Dorset at the end of 2020 compared to a year earlier.
Significant boost in recruitment, hard-to-fill vacancies widely reported by employers
June was the sixth consecutive month of vacancy growth in Dorset. The level of vacancies in Quarter 2 reached highs last seen in 2018, marking a 27% increase on the previous quarter, over twice as high as the vacancies seen over the same period last year and 41% higher than 2019.
Reports suggest increasing number of businesses experience labour shortages endangering recovery. The report explores some of the reasons, including migration shifts and rise in temporary jobs and offers solutions.
Demand grew 14 times in tourism and hospitality
Labour demand soared across industries and occupations. Most notably, tourism & hospitality jobs were 14 times their 2020 reference, 40% up on 2019.
Top employers, jobs and skills
Significant growth was noted in hospitality, engineering and construction demand while the NHS, J.P.Morgan, Councils, Bournemouth University and residential care firms remain top recruiters.
Nurses, software developers and carers were most in demand, as were professional roles such as project, account and financial managers, lawyers and accountants.
Employers most frequently requested baselines skills in communication, organisation, detail-orientation and planning.
The majority of digital skills were stable or growing with MS Excel topping the lead table and Python growing amongst the programming languages.
There are also exciting plans for job creation across Dorset.
Read the full report to find out more about local and national initiatives and research analysis linked to our Dorset’s Skills Strategy.