My eighteen year old son moved to another part of the country recently. As parents, you often tend to worry about your children’s ability to cope with running their own lives. So how was he getting on with his weekly shopping? ‘Oh, it’s all ordered online via Tesco. I’ll be in at 4pm on Saturday for the delivery.’ No problem there then. The connected generation uses its connectivity.
So what has this to do with the latest jobs data? Well, twelve months ago Bolton’s vacancies were overwhelmingly dominated by retail, telesales and care jobs. Now we all know that Christmas is around the corner (indeed, one wit recently tweeted that unemployment amongst elves has just reached an eleven month low) and this will have an impact on the figures. Yet the latest top ten vacancies advertised in Bolton reveals the following:
|
Postal workers, mail sorters, messengers, couriers |
233 |
|
Food, drink and tobacco process operatives |
170 |
|
Heavy goods vehicle drivers |
165 |
|
Other goods handling and storage occupations |
143 |
|
Van drivers |
134 |
|
Care assistants and home carers |
108 |
|
Packers, bottlers, canners, fillers |
102 |
|
Sales representatives |
101 |
|
Sales and retail assistants |
83 |
|
General office assistants/clerks |
77 |
Drivers, couriers and postal workers dominate the data. At this time of the year, retail jobs are usually at a premium, but here they are only eighth in the rankings. Is the new, digital economy taking over in Bolton? On this evidence, it certainly looks that way…
