The UK job market faces significant hurdles as annual job vacancies plummet by nearly one-fifth.
- New data reveals a slight monthly decline in vacancies, despite recent economic growth.
- The number of jobseekers per vacancy reaches a three-year high, highlighting hiring pressures.
- Salaries rise amid falling vacancies, yet salary transparency continues to decline.
- Certain sectors show signs of recovery, while others face ongoing challenges.
The UK job market continues its challenging trajectory, with annual job vacancies falling by 19.49% to 852,703 compared to the same time last year. Recent data from the UK Job Market Report by Adzuna demonstrates a slight decline in vacancies by 0.18% from the previous month, despite a positive GDP growth of 0.4% in May 2024. This comes as the typical summer hiring lull approaches, offering little relief to job seekers.
Jobseeker numbers have increased, with 1.95 jobseekers competing for each live vacancy, up from 1.91 in May, marking the highest ratio in three years. On average, jobs are now listed for 36 days, slightly lower than the previous month’s 36.9 days.
In contrast to falling vacancies, average advertised salaries are on the rise, up by 0.18% compared to May and 2.72% compared to last June, reaching £38,843. This suggests a persistent tightness in the labour market. However, tracking salaries remains difficult as salary transparency declines, with less than half of job adverts (47.7%) displaying salary information, down from 49.5% in May.
Encouragingly, the professional service sectors are beginning to recover. Legal sector vacancies rose by 8.46% in June, while PR, Advertising & Marketing, and Creative & Design sectors saw growth for the first time since February 2024. The IT sector, too, experienced its first positive monthly growth since June 2023.
Conversely, sectors such as Admin, Healthcare & Nursing, and Travel saw declines in monthly vacancies. Notably, Hospitality & Catering experienced a 5.32% decline, atypical for this season. Annual trends show Teaching and Travel as the only sectors with increased vacancies year-on-year, while others faced steep declines.
Average salaries across most industries rose monthly, with significant increases in Travel, Customer Services, and other fields. Annually, Energy, Oil & Gas saw the highest salary growth due to skill shortages and geopolitical influences, while IT was the only sector with a decrease. Regionally, the West Midlands leads in salary growth at 5.48%.
Cambridge stands out as the top city for job hunters, having the lowest jobseeker to vacancy ratio, contrasted by Bradford’s challenging market with 8.2 jobseekers per role. Demand for warehouse roles remains high, with cleaning roles also gaining interest. According to Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, the economic growth may eventually benefit job seekers, but current hiring pauses linked to the General Election and the post-pandemic recovery suggest a slow transition.
The UK job market remains strained, with some sectors offering hope amid broader challenges.
