More than 180,000 new jobs were advertised in the first week of May, showing increasing confidence among businesses about hiring staff, according to a new report.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said there are now a total of 1.5 million jobs advertised across the UK, with stronger increases in new postings since the start of March.
This came on top of another 211,000 in the last week of April – a new record high for any week since the onset of the pandemic.
Businesses are now more willing to hire new staff as the lockdown eases and the economy continues its recovery, said REC.
Chief executive Neil Carberry said: “The jobs data continues to give us good news for the recovery.
"Since governments across the UK announced plans for easing lockdowns, we’ve seen a robust and rising rate of new job ads being posted.
“As restrictions ease, those numbers have continued to rise. Business leaders are feeling more confident now than at any point during the past year.”
The most popular jobs advertised in the first week of May included teaching and other education professionals, cleaners and playworkers.
There were also more jobs in hospitality and service industries on offer ahead of the next phase of restrictions easing.
