Employees are exceptionally active in job hunting this year, with over one million job applications submitted to employers so far, according to statistics from the job portal CVKeskus.ee.
However, employers have posted 23 percent fewer job openings compared to last year, increasing competition for available positions.
In the first half of 2023, an average of 39 candidates applied for each open position, but this year the number has risen to 52. By comparison, during the 2020 health crisis, an average of 59 candidates vied for each job. In total, 1,046,911 job applications have been submitted via CVKeskus.ee this year, an 8 percent increase from the same period last year.
“Competition for jobs is highest in assistant roles, with an average of 72 candidates per position, followed by the transport sector with 68 candidates,” Grete Adler, recruitment manager at CVKeskus.ee, said.
She added that competition is lowest for open positions currently in the education and research sectors, with an average of 12 candidates per job, followed by the public and energy sectors with 16 and 17 candidates, respectively.
The most popular jobs this year are data entry clerk, packer, and warehouse worker, with more than 1,000 candidates competing for each open position.
Compared to last year, the number of job openings decreased by 24 percent in the first quarter and 22 percent in the second quarter.
There has not been a significant change in recruitment activity from employers between the first and second quarters, though some sectors have seen a slowdown in the decline of job postings. For example, the number of job postings in sales, industry, transport, construction, and catering sectors decreased by an average of 6 percent. However, there were still 20 percent fewer job postings in these sectors compared to last year.
The healthcare sector is the only field where the current economic situation has not significantly affected recruitment activity, with the number of job postings remaining similar to the previous year.
“In addition to the reduced need for job creation, the trend in job postings is also influenced by the optimization of recruitment costs. Employers are less likely to post multiple job openings for a single position,” Adler said.
The challenging job market is felt most acutely by workers in supporting roles, with job postings for them continuing to decline rapidly, dropping 34 percent in the second quarter compared to last year.
“Companies have to make tough decisions, and in difficult times, workers in supporting roles are often the first area where costs are cut,” Adler explained.
Source: BNS
(Reproduction of BNS information in mass media and other websites without written consent of BNS is prohibited.)