Region leads way as salaries rise

The north of England is enjoying a wave of advertised salary increases, with Yorkshire and the Humber seeing the highest annual rise, up 3.2 per cent on last year’s figures to stand at an average salary of £30,483.

It is closely followed by increases in the North East to £29,737 (+1.7 per cent) and North West to £30,165 (+1.5 per cent).

Andrew Hunter, the co-founder of Adzuna, the search engine for job ads used by over six million visitors per month, said: “With investments in the region of £1.3bn going to Yorkshire’s infrastructure alone, the North is seeing a startling increase in opportunities for trade and construction workers.

“The Northern Powerhouse is champing at the bit, but it needs more skilled workers. Advertised salaries are on the up in these high-growth areas to persuade people to head north and rebalance the skill-shortage.”

The worst city in which to find a job is Sunderland, where there are 4.54 jobseekers for every vacancy. This is followed by Hull, with 3.47 and Bradford with 3.45.

But Adzuna says the cities with the worst jobseeker to vacancy ratios have actually been showing rapid rates of improvement. Although Sunderland is the hardest place to find work with 4.54 jobseekers per vacancy, this is a vast improvement compared to last year when the figure was as high as 11.6. While the North has seen advertised salaries rise, the figure has fallen in seven out of the 12 UK regions.

The biggest drop was in London, where salaried positions have dropped 2.8 per cent year-on-year to stand at £40,396. Scotland saw similar-sized falls to £31,725 with a 2.7 per cent decrease over the same period, while advertised salaries in South-East England fell 1.3 per cent to £31,880.

The latest UK Job Market Report from Adzuna shows that across the country, average advertised salaries have dropped to a year-long low, as companies shift emphasis from recruitment to retention, and reward their recession veterans with long overdue pay rises. UK salaries stood at £33,505 in July 2015, down 0.6 per cent from £33,696 in June and 1.1 per cent lower than the £33,873 recorded in July 2014.

This marks the first time advertised salaries have fallen on an annual basis since June 2014, with average salaries driven down by companies channelling resources into keeping established middle managers and senior employees, rather than recruiting talent from elsewhere.

Competition for jobs has fallen to a new record low, with just 0.64 jobseekers for every advertised position.

This compares to 0.67 in June, and 1.14 in July, meaning it is now nearly twice as easy to find a job in July 2015 as last year.

Job vacancies, meanwhile, are rising. July saw 1,128,112 job vacancies in the UK, up 3.3 per cent from 1,092,030 in June, and 29.3 per cent higher than the 872,629 vacancies in July 2014, driven by an increase in the number of entry-level roles left unfilled due to the meagre salaries on offer.

It has also led to a decrease in job advertisements for more senior, better paid positions.

Mr Hunter said: “Companies are clinging on to the skilled workers they already have, rather than bringing in new talent at the top. They are rewarding those loyal employees that stood by their side during the recession, but who hadn’t seen salaries rise since these lean years.”