The number of job postings at the start of 2020 was already down on the previous year’s, only for Covid-19 to exacerbate this as its effects were felt across the planet.

But things recovered relatively quickly, and by the end of 2020, levels were only just below where they were in the previous year. There was another good sign, too – the usual Christmas drop off was not as severe in 2020 as it was in 2019.

And then 2021 got off with a bang. Job postings shot up and were soon higher than they were in 2019, a massive reversal in fortunes. What’s even more reassuring is that postings are increasing, when usually they fall after a January peak.

The chart is not just reflecting an increased willingness to share jobs. Firstly, for people to post jobs there need to be jobs. Secondly, there are signs beyond the social data that point to hope. As we mentioned in our previous bulletin, Lego are going on a hiring spree, while the US reported a fall in unemployment last month.

A little caution

While we’ll take good news where we can get it, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. By using global Google search data, we see another side of the picture.

While it’s not the most scientific approach to mapping unemployment, searches around the topic can give us some insight into upwards and downwards trends. For example, we can see an increase in searches in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Worryingly, search numbers after the outbreak of Covid-19 absolutely dwarf those in that time period (comparisons were made between the two as early as May last year). And a year on, searches are still significantly above Great Recession levels.

While the recovery from Covid is expected to be faster than the one following 2008 (based on the above chart, unemployment searches didn’t fall to pre-recession levels until 2016), we have to remember that it will come more quickly to some places than others.

For example, the countries where unemployment searches made up the largest proportion of their total searches were Puerto Rico, the United States, Uruguay, Spain, and Greece. Meanwhile countries like the UK, the Netherlands, and Australia saw the lowest search interest, proportionally.

On top of country disparity, there’s regional disparity, too. People in the UK may not be searching around unemployment a lot, but that hides the fact that “London’s jobs market is lagging the rest of the U.K.”

This all means that, while the global picture may be improving, there’s still a long way to go and there are plenty of setbacks lurking beneath the surface.

Thanks for reading

That’s it for today. We’ll be back on Friday, so if you’re not already, get subscribed to the Brandwatch Bulletin right away.

Stay safe,

Brandwatch React team