UK jobs market remains robust

Latest findings show that there were 184,335 new job adverts in the first week of January – a 24.5% rise compared to the previous year.

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and Lightcast’s latest Labour Market Tracker also revealed that the number of active job vacancy postings across the UK has remained robust since mid-August 2022.

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, commented on the findings, “January is often a time when employees look for a new role, so it is reassuring to see plenty of options out there for people looking to build their career and raise their wages. While businesses are being a notch more cautious in the face of economic uncertainty, the scale of the shortages we face mean many firms still need to hire.

“It is notable that demand as judged by new job adverts has remained relatively steady for many months now, and this January does not appear to be worse than January 2022 according to our data.

“For firms expecting hiring to be easier this year, the message is that working hard to get your hiring right is going to be just as important in 2023.

“For governments, these numbers emphasise again the need to tackle labour shortages with reform across our welfare support, skills and immigration systems.”

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