The transportation labour market had an increased shortage of candidates and will continue on this trajectory throughout the year because of Covid-19 and Brexit, according to new research from online talent sourcing agency Talent.com.

The 2022: Adapting to the New Normal report - conducted in association with labour economist Morgan Raux - combines official statistics from the Office for National Statistics with data from Talent.com to give an overview of how the job market has been affected by Covid-19 and Brexit, how labour market tightness has increased in the last two years, and how it’s projected to keep evolving in 2022. The analysis of the UK’s labour market ‘tightness’ - which is calculated by the comparison of the jobs posted and the number of professionals available for work - highlights how the transportation recruitment market has suffered from the effects of Covid-19 and Brexit. 

Prior to Brexit, the transportation industry was responsible for employing more than 400,000 migrant workers, so the UK’s exit from the EU has been a big contributor to this labour market tightness. Consequently, finding overseas staff has become increasingly challenging and costs and delays have swelled for the logistics sector. With these obstacles piled on top of the issues of moving goods during a pandemic, such a high increase in labour market tightness should not come as a surprise. 

Noura Dadzie - VP Sales UK & International Markets at Talent.com said: 

“Our latest data highlights just how much pressure the transportation employment landscape has been put under since Brexit and the pandemic. With rising vacancy levels and decreasing unemployment figures, talent pools have been squeezed significantly. What we’re seeing now is more pressure on hiring and recruitment teams which is only going to exacerbate the need to direct recruitment expenditure into the right channels that will ensure companies vacancies are seen by the right people.”