UK (Commonwealth) _ An early survey of the UK employment market indicates a loss in confidence ahead of the Christmas holiday, with openings falling below one million for the first time in two years.
Salary and vacancy rates have sharply decreased in the second half of 2023, following a period of steady growth in the first half, according to the UK Job Market Report published by job search engine Adzuna.
This has been an especially challenging year for HR, recruitment, and graduate recruiting. Since January, when positions plummeted by 14.52% from the previous month, HR and recruiting roles have been steadily declining month over month. In November, there were 42.5% fewer HR and recruiting roles available than there were a year earlier.
Overall job postings in the UK decreased by 2.72% in November over October and by 8.55% over the previous year. The data from Adzuna confirms the ONS’s earlier this month. For the first time since June, salaries have increased. They are now 0.74% more than in October and over 2% more than they were a year ago.
But 2023 has also been the worst year ever for wage transparency; on average, 48.95% of positions posted since July have not revealed a salary. Adzuna reports that the patterns indicate a sharp decline in business confidence, with just 998,562 posted job openings between October and November, a decrease of 2.72%.
Adzuna discovered that advertised salaries were increasing for the first time since June, despite declining openings suggesting that the UK’s employment market is stagnating. In November, they saw an increase of 0.74% with average salary posted of £37,221. With a 2.02% decrease in November, London remains the only region in the UK where average advertised earnings are declining annually.
November showed the most year-over-year rise in the East Midlands, surpassing both Yorkshire and Humber and Northern Ireland, which have been two of the top regions for income growth in 2023. The East Midlands’ development has been propelled by a 6.77% rise in Leicester’s average salary to £34,781.
Leeds has long been regarded as one of the best places outside of London for high incomes; but, between October and November, the cities advertised salary decreased by 0.14% to £38,397. Even cities like Cambridge (£39,432), Oxford (£39,454), and Reading (£40,305) have surpassed the metropolis and are now offering the best incomes outside of the capital.
Throughout 2023, the teaching industry has been the most popular on Adzuna for recruiting. At its peak, there were 120,000 teaching positions available in June—a 34.1% increase from June 2022. In June, the average wage that was advertised reached a record high of £31,695.
There has also been a notable decrease in hiring in IT. With the exception of June, when monthly vacancies climbed by 0.11%, the IT industry has continuously witnessed a decline in hiring. With 86,7850 positions available, IT is currently the third-highest recruiting industry on Adzuna, after engineering (88,294) and education, despite a 31.4% decrease in demand for employment in November compared to November 2022.
The time it takes to fill new positions is 35.8 days on average, which is the longest it has been in the last three months.
Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter stated that although salaries seem to be on the rise once more, it’s still challenging for prospective hires to comprehend remuneration for the positions they’re looking for, given that this year was one of the worst on record for wage transparency. Getting a job will probably continue to be difficult throughout the early part of 2024.
Ciphr, an HR software firm located in Marlow, has conducted new research revealing which major UK cities offer the best career possibilities for its residents and employees.
To determine the top 15 places that provide the most opportunities, Ciphr analyzed 50 sites with city status and compared a variety of variables, including average pay, recent income growth, employment rate fluctuations, unemployment rate, number of job ads, and SME density.
