The job market is cautiously optimistic as vacancies rise


For the second month in a row, the UK job market has grown on an annual basis as more employers have advertised seasonal jobs.

The latest data from Adzuna shows a slowdown in the growth of vacancies and the average salary on a month-to-month basis. This suggests that the job market is fragile.

According to the latest data from its website, vacancies rose by 1.02% on an annual basis in April compared to last year’s same month. However, the number of vacancies decreased slightly from month to month. They fell by 0.95%, to 862.876.

The increase in the number of roles in each year was accompanied with a significant rise in the average salary advertised, which reached a record PS42,278.

Adzuna reports that salaries have increased by 8.95% annually, a growth of 0.75 % per month and 0.75% per month. This is the highest annual salary increase since June 2022.

The number of posts in nursing, healthcare and social work increased by 1.94% annually and 0.29% monthly, which means that this sector now has experienced double-digit growth over the past six month.

The number of healthcare vacancies has increased to its highest level since January 2024. This could be attributed the recent announcements by the government limiting overseas recruitment for the care sector.

The largest monthly increases in vacancies occurred in hospitality and catering (5.6%) and logistics and warehouse (4.62%). Both are now recruiting for summer.

Retail (up 1.38%), property (up 2.32%), and teaching (up 1.71%) are also experiencing growth.

Trade and Construction saw the largest drop in vacancies, with a monthly decline of more than 15 percent. This sector, however, reported the highest annual growth rate of all sectors at 49.75%.

The average time required to fill a job role was 39.5 days. This is up from 35.3 days in March. The number of job seekers per vacancy increased slightly from March to 2.02.

Graduate jobs fell 7.6% more in April, bringing the total decline for the year to 22.8%. The most graduate-friendly sectors included teaching, healthcare, customer service, and IT.

Teaching (up by 2.74% per month) and domestic help/cleaning (up by 1.39%) were the two highest-paying occupations in terms of wage increases. The highest average annual salary growth was in logistics and warehouse jobs, at 20.41 percent.

Salary transparency dropped to 47.89% after two months of increasing the number of ads listing salary information. This was down from a recent peak of 48.62%. More than half (52.11%), or more, of the ads do not include salary information in their job descriptions.

Northern Ireland has seen the highest average salary increase in its region, at 12.38%. This brings it to PS40.472. It is now one of six UK regions with average salaries above PS40,000.

London is the region that pays the most, with PS48,635. The next highest paying region in England is eastern England at PS40.855.

Andrew Hunter, Adzuna’s co-founder, stated: “After signs that the job market was recovering in March, this month brought a reminder of how fragile it remains. The number of vacancies dropped and the salary growth is slowing down, despite being strong on an annual level.

“That being said, broader trends continue to be positive.” Two consecutive months have seen an increase in vacancies – something that hadn’t happened for over 18 months. And advertised pay has increased by almost 9% since last year.

The demand for healthcare, logistics and teaching is particularly high, and this strength helps stabilize the market in general. “The recovery is real, but not at full pace yet.”

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