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% month-on-month but also saw salaries up +7.02% in January compared to this time last year.
Salaries have outpaced inflation now for the past nine months.
Job vacancies continued to trend downwards, with total numbers falling -1.86% month-on-month and -4.49% 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%) compared to those with (46.08%). This sees 2025 continue 2024’s run, where only one month in the whole year, February, had more jobs with salary information than without.
The surge in the UK’s average advertised salary to £40,846 continues to break records, thanks to an increase in salaries for key sectors, including Manufacturing, Retail and Maintenance. Maintenance salaries rose +2.24% month-on-month and +19.09% year-on-year, whilst Retail increased +2.35% and +14.47%, respectively. Manufacturing experienced a +2.35% monthly increase in salaries and +10.35% annually. Other sectors with substantial annual increases include Logistics & Warehouse (+17.72%), Customer Service (+12.97%) and Domestic Help & Cleaning (+11.75%). Annual private sector wage growth also continues to outstrip the public sector, up +6.2% compared to 4.7%, respectively.
Only Energy, Oil & Gas jobs experienced a month-by-month fall in average salary, down -3%. At the same time, Legal was once again the only sector to see a dip in average salaries on an annual basis, down -2.55% compared to January 2024.
Helping to stem the decrease in monthly jobs, Trade & Construction continued to see vacancies increase in January, up +12.12%, 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%. Teaching saw yet another month of growth, with roles now exceeding 156,000, however, with a monthly rise of just +0.28%, 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% in January after having already fallen -19.01% in December. This was joined by declines in Travel (-12.84%) and Logistics and Warehouse roles (-12.77%).
In terms of annual growth, eight sectors saw yearly vacancy increases, led by Teaching (+33.94%), Trade and Construction (+22.87%) and Legal (+10.69%). However, the majority of sectors saw annual declines, with Retail dipping the most (-42.25%), followed by PR, Advertising & Marketing (-38.36%), Energy, Oil & Gas (-35.43%) and Graduate (-21%).
Advertised salaries continued to climb in the regions, with Northern Ireland once again experiencing the largest annual growth, +13.23%, followed by the West Midlands and North East England. London and South East England continue to be at the bottom end of the table with +5.68% and +3.89% growth respectively.
London has the highest regional salary at £46,923, with no other region boosting a salary of more than £40,000.
As vacancies continued to fall in January, the number of jobseekers per vacancy continued to rise to 2.09. This also saw jobseeker figures continue to rise across the regions. Only North East England saw no monthly change, and even then, it still has the highest number ratio at 3.61 jobseekers for every available vacancy.
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.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said: “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.
“Sectors including Manufacturing, Maintenance and Retail are driving this trend, whilst Northern Ireland continues to be the fastest-growing region for salary growth across the UK. This reflects the increasing competition for talent in key sectors, even as overall hiring slows.
“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.”
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