Vacancies for marketing professionals continued at record breaking levels throughout 2021 as the UK recovered from the pandemic, with jobs up 130% on 2020 and 43% on 2019. That’s according to new research from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), the trade association for the professional recruitment sector.

The data, provided by business intelligence specialist Vacancysoft reveals that when broken down by functional area, digital remained the single largest specialist marketing area, showing a year-on-year increase of 113.5%. This is perhaps unsurprising given the surge in technology, propelled by Covid- 19. However, APSCo’s data reveals that it was management roles within marketing that had the largest annual uplift, with volumes up 165% year-on-year.

When making comparisons across regions, London remained the most dominant last year accounting for 58% of marketing vacancies across England and Wales and experiencing an uplift of 134% year-on-year. However, the fastest growing region was the West Midlands, with an increase of 168.6% on 2020 figures. In contrast, the East of England experienced the smallest year-on-year growth (96%).

Elsewhere, the third sector experienced the biggest surge in marketing recruitment, undergoing a huge post-lockdown increase of 202%. As a result of this sharp rise, one in ten marketing vacancies are now not-for-profit. In contrast, the healthcare sector experienced the smallest year-on-year increase (up 63%).

Ann Swain, CEO of APSCo comments:

“2021 saw marketing vacancies reach all-time highs, which was extremely encouraging for the sector and its journey to recovery. However, with skills shortages rife, businesses must not only consider investing heavily in upskilling and reskilling internally, but also look to external expertise to ensure they have the right people to continue to grow post-pandemic. And professional staffing companies will be a key tool to ensure companies can do just this.”