The average advertised annual salary continued to break records in January as it crept closer to the £41,000 mark, according to the latest UK Job Market Report by job matching platform Adzuna. Significant salary jumps across Manufacturing and Maintenance roles pushed the UK average up +1.45 per cent month-on-month but also saw salaries up +7.02 per cent in January compared to this time last year. Salaries have outpaced inflation now for the past nine months.
At the same time, job vacancies have continued to trend downwards, with total numbers falling -1.86 per cent month-on-month and -4.49 per cent annually to 828,467 in January 2025, the lowest January figure since 2021. At the same time, the number of jobseekers rose to 2.09, up from 2.01 in December 2024 and 1.81 in January 2024.
The average duration of job postings has increased from 34.1 days to 35.2 days. Legal remains the sector with the shortest time to fill jobs at 31.4 days, followed by Admin (32 days). Conversely, Domestic Help & Cleaning jobs now take an average of 49.2 days to fill, up from 38.7, while Healthcare & Nursing also tipped over the 40-day mark.
Salary transparency continues to trend downwards, with more employers in the UK hiding salaries in job postings (53.92 per cent) compared to those with (46.08 per cent). This sees 2025 continue 2024’s run, where only one month in the whole year, February, had more jobs with salary information than without.
Helping to stem the decrease in monthly jobs, Trade & Construction continued to see vacancies increase in January, up +12.12 per cent, demonstrating an increase in construction productivity in line with Deputy PM Angela Rayner’s housing plan to build 1.5 million new homes and Admin roles, up +2.47 per cent. Teaching saw yet another month of growth, with roles now exceeding 156,000, however, with a monthly rise of just +0.28 per cent, hiring appears to be plateauing.
Of the 27 sectors tracked in the Adzuna report, 21 saw monthly vacancy numbers drop in January. Among the worst hit were Retail, falling -16.23 per cent in January after having already fallen -19.01 per cent in December. This was joined by declines in Travel (-12.84 per cent) and Logistics and Warehouse roles (-12.77 per cent).
In terms of annual growth, eight sectors saw yearly vacancy increases, led by Teaching (+33.94 per cent), Trade and Construction (+22.87 per cent) and Legal (+10.69 per cent). However, the majority of sectors saw annual declines, with Retail dipping the most (-42.25 per cent), followed by PR, Advertising & Marketing (-38.36 per cent), Energy, Oil & Gas (-35.43 per cent) and Graduate (-21 per cent).
Healthcare Support Worker holds firm in the number one spot as the most in-demand role on Adzuna’s Trending Roles list. This metric ranks occupations based on their Interest Quotient, which measures how often job postings are viewed relative to other roles. A higher quotient indicates greater demand among jobseekers.
After sitting in second place in December 2024, Warehouse Worker fell into third, overtaken by Social Care Worker. Sales Assistant has dropped two places from fourth to sixth, having been overtaken by Cleaner and Retail Sales Adviser.
“Average advertised salaries continued to surge in January, outstripping inflation as they approach £41,000 – a record high since we started tracking the UK job market in 2016,” said Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna. “While Trade & Construction and Admin roles remain strong, the gains we’ve seen in Teaching in recent months appear to be levelling out, while the majority of sectors have seen notable drops. For jobseekers, this means adapting to a more competitive landscape, while for employers, attracting and retaining talent remains a challenge.”
