British companies advertised fewer job vacancies in January compared to the previous year, marking the lowest number of openings for the month since 2021. However, salaries continued to
climb, reflecting ongoing competition for skilled workers, according to job search firm Adzuna.
The number of job postings dropped by 4.5% year-on-year to just under 828,500, highlighting a slowdown in hiring. Despite this decline, advertised salaries saw a significant rise, increasing by 7% compared to the previous year.
“This trend underscores the heightened competition for talent in critical industries, even as overall recruitment activity slows,” said Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna.
The strongest wage growth was observed in the maintenance, manufacturing, and retail sectors.
The Bank of England (BoE) anticipates a further cooling of the labor market in 2025, which could ease inflationary pressures. This, in turn, may allow the central bank to continue cutting interest rates to support the sluggish economy. Photo by Phil Whitehouse, Wikimedia commons.