Every month, we share the latest labour market trends based on statistics from the ‘UK Report on Jobs’ by KPMG and Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) as well as our own first-hand experience from within our regions.
The report is compiled by S&G Global, based on a monthly questionnaire sent to a panel of approximately 400 UK recruitment and employment agencies – including ourselves.
Key Points
As recruitment resumes after its usual summer lull, September saw an 11.3% rise in new job postings compared to August
Compared to September last year, active job postings were up over 5% (most notable increases seen in Northern Ireland and the North West region)
Wage growth has cooled but is still heading upwards, despite a loosening job market
Unemployment rate is rising, but at modest levels
RECRUITMENT BACK ON THE AGENDA AFTER SUMMER LULL
As is often expected of the time of year, September has seen an 11.3% rise in new job postings, compared to the month before, when recruitment typically slows over the summer holidays. A September rise is also linked to hospitality, retail and manufacturing industries starting to bolster their workforce as activities start to ramp up towards Christmas. Overall, the estimated number of available vacancies continues to fall quarter on quarter, and has been falling since November 2023.
WAGE GROWTH UPDATE
Despite the overall loosening of the job market, wages have continued to climb, according to the last release of figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Albeit the rate of growth has cooled, but a solid growth of 5.6% is still reported nonetheless. Predominantly seen across lower paid industries as a continued ripple effect of the statutory living wage increases back in April, but within some senior medical professions too.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATES
Recently released figures from the ONS covering June to August, estimated the unemployment rate at 4.8%, which is up from 4.1% in the same quarter of last year. The stats published by the government on the number of redundancy notifications received have remained stable, giving no suggestion that there’s any likelihood of a spike in this figure.
SUMMARY
Whilst the headlines show unemployment continuing to rise and that available vacancies are falling quarter on quarter, on the whole, these trends have remained fairly mild. Other reports even say the market is steadying. All eyes are now on the Autumn budget, could it give businesses the confidence they need to kick-start hiring and turn the tide?