Jobseekers are reacting to hiring announcements in this uncertain and rapidly evolving situation by searching for newly created jobs. Searches for large supermarket brands surged from their usual 1% run rate to over 10% of all searches on Indeed on 21 March, after many companies announced they were hiring more staff. The share of searches for Tesco, the UK’s largest food retailer, increased 13 times compared with the prior week.
These trends show jobseekers are flocking to the opportunities they can find as indicators point towards an economy in decline. While the scale of the increase in Universal Credit claims shows these new jobs will not be enough to make up for steep cuts elsewhere, they may provide a temporary lifeline for many.
Methodology
We analysed jobseeker searches using keywords that contained the brands of ten large food retailers: Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
