The number of open vacancies fell by 15% in January 2024 compared to last year, although salaries continue to increase.
According to the latest monthly jobs market data from Adzuna, vacancies fell below 900,000 in January for the first time since April 2021. There were 867,000 roles advertised on the job search engine – a year-on-year decline of 14.6%.
Fewer vacancies meant that competition for roles has increased, with 1.81 jobseekers per vacancy. This is the highest level of competition since August 2021, according to the jobs search engine.
The company also found that companies are taking longer to make hiring decisions, with advertised vacancies remaining live on average for 36.6 days until they are filled. This is the longest period since January 2023.
Month-on-month from December 2023 to January 2024, the decline in vacancies was not as sharp, however, at 6.6% (it was 6.9% the previous year).
Advertised salaries continued their upward trajectory in January, up 1.6% monthly to £38,186 on average. This is almost 3% higher than in January 2023, and the highest since March 2021.
Labour market
The region with the highest jump in salaries was the East Midlands, where the average salary increased 7.7% to £35,226. London experienced its first increase in salaries since November 2022.
Every single sector tracked by Adzuna experienced a monthly fall in hiring in January 2024. This included teaching, the only job sector to post positive growth last month, which saw a 5.9% drop. Teaching was the only sector to show an annual rise in vacancies, with roles up 22.4% compared to the year to January 2023.
The smallest declines compared with December 2023 were experienced by PR, advertising and marketing companies (-2.8%) and energy, oil and gas (-3.4%). The biggest decrease was in manufacturing, down almost 18%.
The sharpest decline annually was in domestic help and cleaning, where roles advertised dropped by 44.6%.
In some UK locations there was a surplus of jobs compared to candidates, namely Cambridge (0.3 jobseekers per role); Oxford (0.7) and Reading (0.8). Competition for roles was highest in Bradford (7.2 people per role).
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said January had been “one of the most difficult starts to the year” for candidates in recent years as employers put recruitment plans on hold.
“Early data from February also suggests we may have turned a corner, with job vacancies predicted to rise next month,” he said.
“Those that are successful in gaining new employment could also enjoy a higher salary with average advertised salaries continuing to rise monthly and annually. If inflation continues to trend down and the cost of living crisis lessens, jobseekers can remain optimistic that the poor start to the year will quickly reverse.”
Tony Wilson, director at the Institute for Employment Studies, said the data painted a “pretty mixed picture”.
“The seasonal fall in vacancies in December has continued through January, but very strong growth in salaries and some of the changes by sector suggest that this may be being driven as much by changes in demand as it is by any further weakening in the economy.
“In other words, it looks like we’re seeing fewer lower-paid jobs and more high paid jobs being advertised, which has pushed average salaries to pretty much their highest on record.
“With a bit more competition for jobs too, this is arguably good news overall, but it reiterates the need for us to do much better at helping people to fill these better-paid jobs if we want to grow our way out of this recession and bounce back strongly this year.”
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