![\"Moped](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/London-moped-e1775639769481.jpg\")
\t\tThe trend for romanticising London is a positive sign \t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 08 April 2026 10:28 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tWednesday 08 April 2026 10:29 am\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tThe trend for romanticising London is a positive sign \t<\/p>\n
Can Londonmaxxing help revive the capital\u2019s flailing job market? Employment expert Kevin Fitzgerald thinks so<\/p>\n
Londonmaxxing is making the capital cool again<\/p>\n
For as long as I can remember, London has been a contender for \u2018best city in the world\u2019. And if you\u2019re a young person on social media right now, that narrative is making a comeback. It\u2019s been a tough few years \u2013 soaring costs, remote work and evolving priorities have all made people question its charm. But here we are again.<\/p>\n
Much of the resurgence is being driven by AI. Companies like Google Deepmind and OpenAI are setting up in the city with ambitions to make it Europe\u2019s AI capital, and this has driven the rise of \u201cLondonmaxxing\u201d, a social media movement romanticising life in the capital.<\/p>\n
Despite ongoing concerns around the cost of living, London has created a strong environment for AI companies to grow<\/a>. For young people, that means real opportunity, because AI is set to create jobs we haven\u2019t even heard of yet.<\/p>\n There are early signs this optimism is feeding into the labour market. After flat growth at the end of last year, our platform data found that full-time employment in London grew almost 18 per cent year-on-year in March 2026.<\/p>\n But the recovery is uneven. Across the UK, full-time roles are growing three times faster than part-time positions, partly due to new legislation making employers wary of hiring casual staff. In London that shift is even more extreme: part-time and casual roles fell six per cent year-on-year in March, the sharpest decline of any region.<\/p>\n That creates a tension at the heart of London\u2019s resurgence. Londonmaxxing is making the capital cool again for young people looking to build careers. But the roles that once helped them get a foot in the door are shrinking, so it\u2019s becoming even harder to break into.<\/p>\n London is having its moment. The question is, whether the next generation of workers will get to have theirs.<\/p>\n Anecdotally I have noticed many Americans moving here to tech roles in the past 18 months. Many of them echo the sentiment in this. https:\/\/t.co\/4ZUoXdXo7I<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Nick, 30 (@an0n_Nic) March 7, 2026<\/a> Londonmaxxing was doing the rounds on X recently after Google DeepMind announced its AI hub plans. It\u2019s basically the idea that, instead of focusing on everything that\u2019s wrong with London, we should lean into everything that\u2019s right about it. It\u2019s part of a wider \u201cmaxxing\u201d trend where different things \u2013 health, cities, lifestyle \u2013 get their moment of social media romanticisation. As an Irishman, nothing will ever beat the pull of Dublin. But I\u2019ll admit, I do love the buzz of the city when I\u2019m back here.<\/p>\n AI isn\u2019t killing jobs \u2013 it\u2019s making them<\/p>\n We conducted research recently which found that 62 per cent of UK business leaders are already creating new roles in response to AI. The same research found that AI skills are the number one skillset employers look for in new candidates. There\u2019s a lot of noise about AI taking jobs, but history tells us that every technological revolution ends up creating more work, not less. My biggest piece of advice is don\u2019t be scared of AI. Use it to your advantage, because it\u2019s not going anywhere.<\/p>\n Quote of the week<\/p>\n \u201cYou can always come home. So you\u2019ve nothing to be afraid of.\u201d <\/p>\n My mum said this to me the first time I left home for Australia. Parents are always full of wisdom aren\u2019t they? I\u2019ve lived the majority of my adult life away from home, 14 years across Aus and Singapore. But two years ago my family and I moved back to Dublin. Turns out my mum was right\u2026 she usually is.<\/p>\n What I\u2019ve been watching\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been watching Mr Mercedes recently and loving it. It\u2019s an adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s Bill Hodges trilogy so it\u2019s quite dark but real edge of your seat stuff. Without giving the game away, Brendan Gleeson plays a retired detective obsessed with catching the \u2018Mercedes killer\u2019. He\u2019s always been one of my favourite actors and I recently found out that King wanted him to play the role because he looked exactly how he imagined Bill Hodges when writing the books. That made me love it even more. If you haven\u2019t watched it yet, clear your weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kevin Fitzgerald is UK MD of Employment Hero<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n
\nThe rise of \u2018maxxing\u2019<\/p>\n