York has an ‘unprecedent’ number of job vacancies, with its workforce at a record high.

The city is also bouncing back from the lockdowns better than others, with a surge in visitor numbers, and tumbling unemployment.

Coupled with the cost-of-living crisis, labour shortages are also forcing employers to boost pay to attract and retain staff.

The economic ‘state of the city’ is outlined in a quarterly report for City of York councillors meeting on Thursday.

It confirms demand for Labour in York ‘remains strong’ with vacancy numbers within a five-mile radius of the city centre up 600 in May to 3,871, “the highest recorded level of vacancies since data tracking began in August 2021.”

Some vacancies are summer-seasonal but “numbers are still unprecedented.”

The supply of York-based labour continues to fall, with those claiming out-of-work benefits falling in March, April and May, so the claimant county has dropped for 14 consecutive months, “a remarkable success.”

May had a provisional claimant count of 2585, 765 up on March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK.

The figures come as the Department of Work and Pensions last week reported the York claimant count halving over a year, as reported by the Press.

The quarterly report also cited Office of National Statistics Data which showed employment in York has reached an “all-time high,” with 92,500 employed in York-based companies.

Although York is “one of the best performing cities for reducing unemployment” in recent years, the claimant count “is still high on recent historic levels.”

The latest figures show 5,272 people claiming universal credit, whilst in employment in York.

“There is still progress to be made in getting residents into well-paid employment,” the report said.

York’s city centre “continues to perform well,” with the city remaining in a national top ten in recovering pre-Covid footfall levels.

The council’s own data from the Movements Insights platform, shows a 26 per cent rise in footfall in the first half of 2022 compared with 2021- averaging 122,107 compared with 89,496.

Overall, visitor numbers are consistent across 2022, with 1.5 million visitors across both quarters. But this is lower than the end of 2021.

Despite recent train strikes causing significant disruption nationally, their impact currently appears ‘muted’ based on footfall data.

Total footfall data for the week starting June 20 was 173,160, 5.5 per cent up on the week before, bucking the trend for North Yorkshire and the UK which saw a 2.3% and 2.6% decrease in footfall.

Footfall fell on the strike days June 21 and 23, but on the third strike day, Saturday the 25th, “was the busiest day of the week” with 32,965 visitors.

The report, added: “Future strikes across various industries have been mooted for the remainder of the year, so the combined impact of industrial action remains to be seen.”