Lotus Bakeries, the Belgium-based food group, was hiring at the highest rate among major manufacturers in the three months to the end of March, according to analysis of job postings.

The Biscoff biscuits maker was advertising for an average of 1,048 new jobs a month over that period, according to GlobalData figures.

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That equated to 486 new positions per 1,000 employees, the highest rate out of the 67 large food manufacturing companies tracked by GlobalData’s job analytics database.

GlobalData has defined a large company as one with more than 1,000 employees. The data and analytics group included those for which it had comprehensive figures.

Examples of the roles Lotus Bakeries was looking to fill included a retail key account manager in the UK, a corporate controller in Belgium and a raw materials buyer in Switzerland.

During the quarter, Lotus Bakeries’ hiring rate slightly decreased when compared to the previous three months, with an average of 1,084 new jobs posted in the three months up to and including December 2022.

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French dairy group Unibel came in second place based on the rate-per-employee metric, with 119 new job postings per 1,000 employees in the three months up to the end of March. Netherlands-based group Ecotone, home to brands including Mrs Crimble’s cakes and Whole Earth peanut butter, was in third place.

When ignoring the size of the company, Nestlé came top of the rankings for total job ads posted in the past quarter, with PepsiCo in second and Unibel in third.

GlobalData’s job analytics database tracks the daily hiring patterns of thousands of companies across the world, drawing in jobs as they’re posted and tagging them with additional layers of data on everything from the seniority of each position to whether a job is linked to wider industry trends such as automation or artificial intelligence.

Further analysis of job trends in the food industry:

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The latest geographic trends in food-industry digital-media jobs

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