The gaming industry has become one of the UK’s top employers during the pandemic — but the East of England lags behind other parts of the UK when it comes to job vacancies in the sector, according to a survey.

A report from global recruiter Robert Walters and data provider Vacancysoft entited Gaming: Perfect Play for Growth reveals in the last year alone there has been a 20% rise in job vacancies in the sector — and this is predicted to increase threefold over the next five years.

Top of the table is Greater London at 28% of vacancies, followed by the South East at 23% and North East England at 17.71%. The East of England had just under a 5% share.

MORE — Woman made redundant on the day lockdown was announced starts own business ventureTom Chambers of Robert Walters said the average contribution to the economy per employee of the gaming sector was £80,000 – double the national average and the most productive of all the creative industries in the nation. “There is no industry quite like gaming that is able to evidence its high potential in helping to uphold the UK economy as we navigate out of the pandemic.”Gaming companies are rapidly increasing sales and marketing recruitment to better monetise their products, said the report, with a 25% year-on-year increase in marketing vacancies in 2019 compared to the previous year.Thomas Shibley, global head of Player Support at Wildlife Studios, said while China and the US dominated the sector, the UK and Ireland had recreated “the ideal breeding ground” for new entrant and established games studios to flourish.“The UK & Ireland are uniquely placed in that they have the golden combination of some the best and most advanced tech talent in the world, as well as long established and best practice methods in product marketing and sales.”