Dozens of unemployed people in East Renfrewshire chasing every job vacancy

That is according to the Institute for Employment Studies, which collected data from Adzuna – one of the UK’s largest online job search engines.

But with unemployment rising, it found there were still dozens of claimants per vacancy in East Renfrewshire.

The think tank has warned the Covid-19 crisis is hitting some areas harder than others, and says much more must be done to support people’s livelihoods.

There were 85 job vacancies in East Renfrewshire on June 14 – four per cent more than the number advertised on March 15, the date the IES used as the benchmark for pre-crisis vacancy levels.

However, the figure was three per cent down from the same time a year previously.

The picture was different across the UK, where the number of vacancies plunged to 367,000 on June 14 – 55 per cent lower than the 820,000 jobs advertised before the virus rocked the economy.

The think tank also compared the vacancy data to Office for National Statistics figures on the number of people claiming work-related benefits, such as Jobseekers Allowance and some forms of Universal Credit.

It found there were around 43 claimants per vacancy in East Renfrewshire in May, up from 12 in March, although the ONS has cautioned that changes to Universal Credit due to the virus mean more people could get help while still being employed.

This was significantly higher the UK average of nine people chasing every listed job.

Tony Wilson, director of the IES, said: “This crisis has affected all parts of the economy, but it’s clear that it is hitting some places harder than others.

“Many of these areas were struggling before this crisis began and are in even more trouble now.

“We need to be doing much more both to support employment demand in the short term – for example by cutting employer National Insurance – and in the longer-term to support new industries and jobs.”