Record-breaking month for jobs market – report

November was a record-breaking month for the jobs market, with vacancies and average salaries increasing to their highest point of the year, research suggests.

Jobs site Adzuna said there were almost 880,000 vacancies, an increase of 2.3% from October, while the average advertised salary was £39,646 – a 6.5% year-on-year increase.

The figures were largely thanks to Christmas hiring, with logistics and warehouse jobs alone up by 12.6% on the month, said the report.

The average time to fill a vacancy was 32 days, the shortest timescale since Adzuna’s records began in 2016.

Construction

There were also big increases in adverts for jobs in trade and construction, accounting and finance, and teaching, compared with fewer roles for domestic help and cleaners, said Adzuna.

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 and warehouse, highlights the critical role of seasonal hiring during the Christmas period.

“We’re likely to start to see the impact of national insurance rises in the budget on employer hiring soon and recent ONS (Office for National Statistics) data showed signs that the economy is shrinking, another factor likely to weigh on hiring decisions.

“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.

“We expect that the wider macroeconomic environment may begin to impact hiring figures early next year.”