Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that vacancies across all sectors grew by 239,000 in July to September 2021, with accommodation and food service activities recording 24,600 new vacancies.
All industries are above or equal to their January to March 2020 pre-pandemic vacancy levels, with accommodation and food service activities seeing the largest increase - up by 49,700 vacancies.
Recent ONS analysis showed that hospitality businesses are more than twice as likely as other industries to be experiencing challenges in filling job vacancies, with around a third reporting that job vacancies are harder to fill than normal.
Reinforcing the growth in vacancies, alongside the difficulty in filling positions, the current ratio of 3.7 vacancies per 100 employee jobs is the highest on record, with accommodation and food service activities the industry with the highest ratio at 5.9.
In total, the number of job vacancies recorded in July to September was a record high of 1,102,000 - an increase of 318,000 from its pre-pandemic January to March 2020 level, and the second consecutive month the three-month average has risen over one million.
The ONS notes that while July to September saw continued vacancy growth across the majority of sectors, the rate of growth has begun to slow.