UK jobs market saw record number of vacancies in November with salaries rising

November marked a historic high for the UK jobs market, with vacancies and average wages seeing a substantial uptick, the highest recorded this year, according to insights from a job site.

Adzuna reported nearly 880,000 job openings, up by 2.3% since October, while the typical advertised wage increased to £39,646 – a rise of 6.5% from the previous year. This surge is largely driven by seasonal recruitment, especially in logistics and warehouse sectors, which saw a monthly increase of 12.6%.

The report also indicated that it now takes an average of just 32 days to fill a role, the quickest rate since Adzuna started tracking this data in 2016. Significant job advertisement growth has been noted in industries like trade and construction, accounting, finance, and education, while there's been a downtrend in domestic and cleaning roles, per Adzuna's findings.

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

He also remarked on the positive momentum observed in recent months, attributing November's peak vacancy levels to a bounce-back in employers' hiring confidence. "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."