If you live in Merthyr Tydfil, you face the most competitive jobs market in the UK!
Unemployment currently stands at 2.43 million, with the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance rising at its fastest rate in two years in May.
Clearly, it is an exceptionally difficult and competitive marketplace if you’re after a job. And new research shows just which towns and cities are the hardest in which to get a job.
The competitive jobs market
The GMB union has used figures from the Office for National Statistics and Job Centres from across the nation to work out which areas of the UK have the largest number of unemployed workers chasing each unfilled job vacancy.
Across the nation as a whole, there are just shy of six (5.8) unemployed workers for each unfilled job. However, that ratio jumps significantly in London, to 10.1 for each vacancy, making it the toughest region in which to find a job.
Here’s how the regional breakdown looks:
| Region | Unfilled vacancies | Total jobseeker’s allowance claimants | Ratio |
| London | 22,401 | 226,182 | 10.1 |
| Scotland | 15,551 | 142,377 | 9.2 |
| North East | 10,916 | 84,610 | 7.8 |
| North West | 28,900 | 186,808 | 6.5 |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | 24,756 | 150,203 | 6.1 |
| Wales | 13,755 | 73,104 | 5.3 |
| West Midlands | 33,507 | 162,914 | 4.9 |
| East Midlands | 23,075 | 103,235 | 4.5 |
| East | 24,901 | 110,849 | 4.5 |
| South East | 32,831 | 137,027 | 4.2 |
| South West | 23,105 | 84,335 | 3.7 |
Good luck in Merthyr
That’s all well and good but these regions are very big places, covering areas both prosperous and downtrodden. It’s a bit vague to say it’s difficult to get a job in Scotland, as there will plenty of areas where that’s not the case.
Thankfully the GMB have also put together a more detailed list, looking at specific towns and cities that are seeing this job competition at its keenest. And it’s a town in Wales which tops the table, with a staggering 32.7 jobseeker’s allowance claimants for each vacancy.
| Region | Unfilled vacancies | Total jobseeker’s allowance claimants | Ratio |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 63 | 2,063 | 32.7 |
| East Ayrshire | 139 | 4,345 | 31.3 |
| Inverclyde | 86 | 2,648 | 30.8 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 122 | 3,726 | 30.5 |
| Hackney | 452 | 10,941 | 24.2 |
| Haringey | 450 | 10,577 | 23.5 |
| Greenwich | 334 | 7,644 | 22.9 |
| Lewisham | 443 | 9,926 | 22.4 |
| North Ayrshire | 243 | 5,370 | 22.1 |
| Barking and Dagenham | 302 | 6,581 | 21.8 |
| Waltham Forest | 476 | 9,244 | 19.4 |
| Knowsley | 335 | 6,168 | 18.4 |
| Eilean Siar | 28 | 491 | 17.5 |
| Kingston upon Hull, City of | 849 | 14,425 | 17.0 |
| Medway | 417 | 6,764 | 16.2 |
| East Renfrewshire | 92 | 1,395 | 15.2 |
| Hartlepool | 280 | 4,192 | 15.0 |
| Clackmannanshire | 124 | 1,828 | 14.7 |
| Dundee City | 381 | 5,445 | 14.3 |
| Rhondda, Cynon, Taff | 460 | 6,574 | 14.3 |
| Bexley | 319 | 4,500 | 14.1 |
| Redcar and Cleveland | 386 | 5,445 | 14.1 |
| Renfrewshire | 390 | 5,472 | 14.0 |
| Redbridge | 522 | 7,224 | 13.8 |
| Wirral | 634 | 8,748 | 13.8 |
| Glasgow City | 1,870 | 25,545 | 13.7 |
| Middlesbrough | 516 | 7,007 | 13.6 |
| Brent | 731 | 9,918 | 13.6 |
| South Lanarkshire | 656 | 8,848 | 13.5 |
| South Tyneside | 453 | 6,032 | 13.3 |
| Newham | 868 | 11,284 | 13.0 |
| Caerphilly | 413 | 5,279 | 12.8 |
| South Ayrshire | 226 | 2,879 | 12.7 |
| Lambeth | 932 | 11,799 | 12.7 |
| Southwark | 838 | 10,573 | 12.6 |
| Falkirk | 376 | 4,635 | 12.3 |
| Tower Hamlets | 863 | 10,507 | 12.2 |
| Croydon | 843 | 10,045 | 11.9 |
| Blaenau Gwent | 248 | 2,955 | 11.9 |
| North East Lincolnshire | 550 | 6,361 | 11.6 |
As you can see, the entire top 40 have a higher ratio of claimants per vacancy than the top region, London.
One response
[…] Re: So the unions are threatening strike action over pensions and changes to contract Originally Posted by Lois Lane To get unemployment below 1 million is near genius. Seeing as how you are so wrapped up in rights for the disabled, you do forget their presence quite quickly when trying to make another point. I doubt due to there being no such thing a jib for life again an uneployment rate of 1.5 million will effectively be full employment due to the amount of churn in the jobs market. The current situation the jobs market is dire. (please do not draw any conclusion from this web refererence, a forum I use has just been maliciously blocked and diverted.) The hardest city to get a job in | Black Triangle Campaign […]