Record levels: +51% increase in public sector professional roles this year
Biggest increase in technology: +138% increase in demand for Tech Management roles
Management Accounting & Digital Marketing also growth areas within Public Sector
Third of public sector professional roles based in London
Regions hire aggressively: Vacancies increase in North (+42%), South (+34%), and Midlands (+26%).
There has been a +51% increase in (desk-based) public sector job roles for the first half of 2023, when compared to the same period last year.

If job vacancies continue at the pace that they have, then job volume for professional roles within the public sector will be +35% up on 2022 – making this the only industry segment to see an increase in white-collar / head-office roles this year.

The findings – from specialist recruitment firm Robert Walters – analyses job vacancies across professional services roles such as finance, HR, legal, technology, marketing, and business support & admin.

Habiba Khatoon – Director at Robert Walters – comments:

“It really is no surprise to see the demand for public sector professionals remain so high in 2023 – in particular due to changing government priorities, evolving legislation, demographic changes putting additional pressure on the system, and the need for specialized skills to keep up with technological advancements.

“The recent announcement on the long-awaited pay increase has given the public sector the well-needed positive PR it has required. With a better reputation around job security, generous leave entitlement, work-life balance, and diverse career opportunities – when compared to the private sector – the tide may be turning on where the most in-demand talent may choose to lay their hat.”

Tech Talent in Demand

According to the Robert Walters report, there has been an explosion in hiring for Tech Management roles – with volumes up +138% on last year, accounting for 8% of all new professional job vacancies in the public sector in the last quarter.

This is in stark contrast to all other sectors – where across the UK, Tech Management roles are down -59%.

Habiba adds: “Arguably the public sector was slightly behind the curve on digital transformation post-pandemic. So whilst we saw a bulk of tech hiring take place within the private sector in the 12 months following lockdown measure being lifted, this scale of hiring only seems to be taking place now.”

Hiring Continues in Public Sector

Other roles in demand across the public sector include Management Accounting and Digital Marketing – which have increased by +18% and +11% respectively, in the past year.

By region, London remains the largest in terms of vacancies accounting for 32% of all advertised roles – however it is The North (+42%), South (+34%), and The Midlands (+26%) that have seen notable growth. London has seen a +30% growth in public sector professional vacancies in the past year.

James Chaplin, CEO of Vacancysoft – the UK’s leading provider of labour market data and analytics – comments:

“Despite the significant fall in activity in 2023 so far, it is worth noting that last year vacancies hit all time record levels. Similarly, current activity is broadly on a par with 2019, the last regular business year before the pandemic, which was, to all intents and purposes, a normal year.

“Perhaps with that, we are seeing the market therefore normalising. A big part of that will be whether interest rates continue to rise, equally given inflation was below forecast in the latest results, it could be we are finally turning the corner here too.”