London Loses Allure for Jobseekers as Covid Hits City Businesses

(Bloomberg) -- Londoners are looking for jobs outside the capital as the city struggles to generate new work after the coronavirus slump.

Searches for positions in the other parts of the U.K. by London-based users on recruitment site Indeed.com climbed 27% in August from a year earlier. At the same time, the number of jobs being advertised as available in the city remains about half the level seen in February.

London’s jobs drought is persisting even as demand is beginning to pick up in other areas of the country. Businesses in the capital have been hit particularly hard by a pandemic that has kept people away from the center, wary of using public transport to venture into offices, restaurants and shops.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Thursday unveiled a new job support plan in an attempt to keep more Britons in work through the winter. That may be too little, too late for many.

People in cleaning work and retail were most likely to be searching for a new job outside London, Indeed found. The most popular areas for their search were the bordering counties of Essex, Kent and Surrey.

“London’s booming economy has been an engine of job creation and career progression for decades,” said Jack Kennedy, U.K. economist at Indeed. “The pandemic has shifted the dynamic between the capital and the areas in its orbit.”

Despite the shaky picture for jobs, confidence among British households increased in September, a separate GfK report showed.

However, amid growing restrictions to curb fresh coronavirus infections, “only an unbridled optimist will bet on confidence climbing further,” said Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.