Christmas hiring pushes vacancy levels to highest figure in 2024 – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

November was a record-breaking month for the UK job market in 2024 in which both vacancies and average salaries jumped to their highest point of the year, according to the latest UK Job Market Report by job search engine Adzuna.

Vacancies topped 879,399, up +2.3% from October, while the average advertised salary in November was £39,646 – a +6.5% year-on-year increase, and the biggest annual rise since April 2021.

The change in mood was largely due to Christmas hiring, with Logistics and Warehouse jobs alone up +12.6% month-on-month. This represents a +8.3% yearly increase and a +24% jump compared to summer.

At the same time, the number of jobseekers per vacancy fell for only the second time this year in November, dropping to 2 applicants per role down from October’s figure of 2.08.

After reaching their 2024 peak in October, graduate vacancies dropped drastically by -12.1% to 20,138 in November, which represents an annual decline of -21%. Graduate salaries also fell by their largest 2024 margin in November, down -1.7% to £24,685. However, this is still +2% above last year’s average November graduate salaries.

Meanwhile, the average duration of a job posting dropped to 32.8 days, the shortest time-to-fill rate seen since Adzuna’s records began in 2016. This is almost a whole week faster than the 39.5 days seen in October. Among sectors, Energy, Oil & Gas roles took 37.5 days to fill – a significant 29.5% faster than the 53.2 days average seen in the previous month. Yet Legal, and Property roles remain among the fastest to fill, taking an average of 30.4 days between them.

Sectors leading the recovery

November saw a notable recovery in key sectors. Logistics & Warehouse jobs led the way with a +12.56% increase in vacancies month-on-month and a +8.3% annual growth. Healthcare & Nursing followed with +9.0% monthly growth and Trade & Construction also saw a strong rise, with vacancies increasing by +6.3% compared to October. With the year-end deadline for accounting nears, Accounting & Finance roles grew +4.7% monthly.

Some sectors struggled. Domestic Help & Cleaning jobs saw the largest decline, dropping -6.02% month-on-month, while Travel jobs fell -4.8%, suggesting reduced activity post-summer. IT jobs also experienced a decline, down -3.6% compared to October.

Teaching vacancies saw significant annual growth, rising +25.8% compared to November 2023 while Retail jobs plummeted by a massive -40.6% year-on-year. In fact, a total of 14 sectors saw annual vacancy number declines by more than a fifth in November.

Salary increases across the board

Salaries continued to climb across most sectors in November, with Maintenance jobs leading the pack, posting a +5.3% month-on-month increase. This was followed by Energy, Oil & Gas average salaries rising +3.14% over the same period. In addition to soaring vacancies, Logistics & Warehouse salaries rose by +2.94%, while Scientific & QA jobs saw a notable +2% gain, underscoring competition for skilled professionals.

In contrast, a few sectors reported slight declines or slower growth. Hospitality & Catering salaries fell marginally by -0.69% month-on-month, and Domestic Help & Cleaning salaries dropped by -0.28%. Although both are still significantly higher compared to the same time in 2023, up +5.4% and +8.9% respectively. Retail salaries remained stable with a modest +1.2% monthly rise, yet this sector saw the highest year-on-year growth of +15.1% of any sector in November.

Across 29 sectors analysed, 25 saw annual salary increases averaging 8% across the board. Of the only four sectors that saw declines, Legal salaries fell the most by -3.07%.

Elsewhere, after four months of steady improvements, salary transparency dipped in November. Some 47.54% of roles listed the salary details as part of the ad, down from 47.68% in September. This means that more than half of job ads still don’t disclose salary details.

Jobseeker figures fall for only the second time this year  

The number of jobseekers per vacancy dropped from 2.08 in October to 2 in November with figures falling marginally across all regions. The biggest monthly change was in Northern Ireland, whilst the smallest change was in Wales.

This national decline is the largest monthly drop of the year and only the second time in 2024 that jobseeker numbers have declined month-on-month since August’s 2.07 figures fell slightly to 2.06 in September.

Meanwhile, all regions experienced positive increases in year-on-year average advertised salaries for the second time in a row. Wales overtook Scotland, thanks to its +7.3% annual salary growth, yet London slipped back down the table after leapfrogging Yorkshire And The Humber, and South West England for the first time in October.

Warehouse Worker reclaims top spot as most in-demand role

After dropping off the top spot for the first time in 17 months in October, Warehouse Worker reclaimed its position as the most in-demand role on Adzuna’s Trending Roles list last month. This metric ranks occupations based on their Interest Quotient, which measures how often job postings are viewed relative to other roles. A higher quotient indicates greater demand among jobseekers.

Healthcare Support Worker rose to second place in November, up from fourth in October, while October’s most in-demand role, Sales Assistant, dropped two places to third.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said: “November’s figures offer hope for the UK job market as we close out what’s been a challenging year.

“There have been green shoots of growth in recent months, and November’s highest vacancies of 2024 reflect employers’ renewed confidence in hiring. The growth we’re seeing, particularly in sectors like Logistics & Warehouse highlights the critical role of seasonal hiring during the Christmas period.

“However, this is a mixed picture. We’re likely to start to see the impact of National Insurance rises in the budget on employer hiring soon and recent ONS data showed signs that the economy is shrinking, another factor likely to weigh on hiring decisions.”

“Right now we are seeing a very competitive hiring landscape, demonstrated by the sharp decline in the average duration of job postings to just 32.8 days – the fastest time-to-fill rate since our records began in 2016. Yet we expect that the wider macroeconomic environment may begin to impact hiring figures early next year.”