The number of available vacancies is somehow limited

My friend asks:
those who are applying for jobs now, have you noticed that the number of available vacancies is somehow limited, or at least not what you would expect from what we used to hear regarding shortage situation in the UK?
I have been applying for 3 weeks now, and i have searched for acute medicine/medicine/FY2/SHO/LAS fy2/LAT fy2/ FY2 rotational/ trust grade junior/ junior clinical fellow and few A&E under the same level and yet i managed to apply to only 20 jobs!!!
I also use the NHS website and the healthjob website too
is this normal?