Liverpool was third in the top 10 UK cities for applications growth in January, behind only Bristol and Birmingham and just ahead of Manchester, according to CV-Library. Tony McDonough reports.

Job applications in Liverpool soared 68.3% in January compared to the December with the number of available vacancies also up by 43.1%.

Data from UK-wide job site, CV-Library, also revealed wages in the city were 4.9% higher than a year ago – far exceeding the national inflation rate of 0.6%.

Liverpool was third in the top 10 UK cities for applications growth in January, behind only Bristol and Birmingham and just ahead of Manchester.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: “It’s great to see that both business and candidate appetite is strong across Liverpool – with the city coming in the top 10 for both these areas.

“January is always a busy time for recruitment, as businesses get back into the swing of things and many candidates look for their next opportunity to kick-start the New Year.

“With application rates soaring across the city, competition amongst candidates is fierce, but as business confidence is so high, now is the best time for local job hunters to make the most of the abundance of opportunities available to them.”

The findings reflect comments by Liverpool & Sefton Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Jenny Stewart, earlier in the week that local businesses were more confident about the future than they have ever been.

Mr Higgins added: “We’ve not seen salaries in Liverpool increase by such a large amount for a while now, so it’s extremely positive to see that many local businesses are recognising the need to offer competitive pay packages in order to attract talented candidates.

“This is a strategy that is clearly paying off as application rates have sky rocketed since December, though this surge in candidate appetite comes as no surprise at this time of year.

“We hope that this data is a good sign of things to come for Liverpool, and that we will see both business and candidate confidence remain as the year progresses.”