BARROW has one the least competitive job markets in the country, making it one of the easiest places to find work but more challenging for employers, new figures reveal. 

A study done by Resume.io found that there are 0.3 average daily applicants per job in Barrow, which places it in the bottom fifth in the country. 

Unsurprisingly, the most competitive place to find a job was London, with 11.01 average daily applicants per job. In the north west, Manchester was the highest with 4.85 average daily applicants, and Preston was twice as competitive at Barrow, but also still relatively low, at 0.61 applicants. 

At the very bottom was Wallasey, with just 0.05 average daily applicants per job. 

The study was done by looking at data from LinkedIn Jobs that were posted during the last month and were not remote positions. For each job, the number of days the listing had been live, the number of applicants and the industry were recorded. 

Resume.io pulled a sample from every UK town and city that has a population of more than 50,000, and then discarded locations with fewer than 20 listings. 

The MP for Barrow and Furness Simon Fell said: "Barrow has one of the tightest jobs markets in the UK, which will explain some of these figures, but clearly there's more to be done to address the issue. 

"£5million of the £220 that we've managed to secure through Team Barrow is about addressing the challenges in the job market, including getting those who could be working back into the job market and also supporting SMEs.

"That funding should make a huge difference and also mean that some of the opportunities that have been enabled in Furness are available to more people."

A report into UK labour market statistics published by the House of Commons Library last month delved into the current state of the workforce across the nation. 

The report said that despite the market loosening compared to 2022-23: "The labour market remains tight by historical standards. Vacancy levels remain above their pre-pandemic levels, and with unemployment remaining at a historically low level, there continues to be pressure on employers to retain staff due to concerns over whether they will be able to rehire."