Job vacancies in Bristol have plummeted as companies struggle with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, new research has found.
Jobs site CV-Library said the city was one of the "worst affected" in the UK after it saw a 70 per cent fall in vacancies in the three months to June compared to the same quarter last year.
Other cities badly impacted include Aberdeen (down 80 per cent), Leeds (69 per cent), Birmingham (68 per cent) and Glasgow (67 per cent), said the report.
Sectors which saw the biggest fall in job adverts include administration, design, sales, recruitment, catering, media, and marketing, research indicated.
Lee Biggins, chief executive of CV-Library, said: "It's no secret that lockdown measures stunted the UK economy and labour market during this period.
"As a result, businesses had no choice but to put a pause on their hiring plans and make difficult decisions about their workforce.
"These figures are pretty bleak and naturally, some industries and locations have been more affected by others, although the market is already showing signs of recovery this month, albeit very slowly."
Average pay dropped in sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, down by almost a fifth in leisure and tourism, 9% in charities and 8% in catering, the report added.
The news comes as Bristol is hit with a wave of redundancies from organisations including Airbus, Rolls-Royce and the BBC.
It also follows a warning from the TUC, which said there is a high risk of "mass unemployment" in the South West if the region does not have a recovery plan centred on protecting and creating jobs, backed by major investment.
Workers who have required support from the job retention scheme and self-employed income support scheme are most likely to face unemployment in the months ahead, the trade union said.
TUC analysis estimates more than 69,000 workers in Bristol are currently being supported by these schemes.
