Using LinkedIn data to explore the PR job market

At Wadds Inc. we've started to explore the medium to long term impact of COVID-19 on the workforce in the public relations market using LinkedIn data.

PR practitioners working outside London

87,000 practitioners self-identify as working in public relations in the UK. 37,000 practitioners work in the capital, followed by Manchester (2,500), Leeds (1,000), Edinburgh (1,000), Birmingham (1,000) and Bristol (900).

London’s dominance as a market for talent in public relations is significant. More than two out of every five practitioners work in the city. Over time we’re going to explore the impact of the shift to virtual working and the Government’s leveling up agenda.

Outside of London the number of practitioners in a town or city is broadly relative to population sizes, reflecting the public that it serves.

Seniority of practitioners

We’ve also looked at the make-up of the profession in terms of roles. This provides a counter intuitive view to the assertion that entry level recruitment has been frozen during the pandemic. There is broadly an equal split between entry level, manager, and director roles.

Movement in the market

Finally, we’ve also looked at the number of practitioners that have moved roles. More than 3,000 practitioners have changed jobs in the past quarter. This provides an indication of the buoyancy of the talent market.

The LinkedIn dataset is not typically used to study markets. Thanks to Andrew Bruce Smith for his support to help query LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It will be interesting to see how it correlates over time with other data sources such the Office for National Statistics.